WW2 did solders carry sidearms while on leave

MJWare · Oct 2, 2010

I'm writing a short for kids about a vet who tells the kids war stories.

I need to know if after the war a solder would normally carry his sidearm with him on leave. If he was out in the middle of no where could he leave it in his jeep?

Would he even be allowed to take a jeep if we was on leave.

Basically it's two solders out looking for spoils of war when they run into a Troll.

Any advice would be helpful.

tallus83 · Oct 2, 2010

How soon after the war? A week, a month, a year?
A week or a month probably, just as protection against any hold-outs.
In the US military, no jeeps on leave.

MJWare · Oct 2, 2010

tallus83 said:
How soon after the war? A week, a month, a year?
A week or a month probably, just as protection against any hold-outs.
In the US military, no jeeps on leave.

Thanks so much. That's just what I wanted to know. It would have been around a month.

thothguard51 · Oct 2, 2010

Spoils of war were also a no-no once the war ended. Many a soldier got into trouble.

As far as side arms. During the war, the soldier carried his arms where ever he went. If he went on a little R&R back to a small village well from the front lines, his arms went with him. If to a larger city like Paris or Rome, the arms stayed at a central base from where they shipped in and out of. Even on R&R they had to report to where ever they were going so there was a record of them having been there.

After the war, the answer is clearly no arms of any type were allowed to be carried on leave. Can't have drunken soldiers shooting up the just liberated populace.

Instead of being on leave, maybe they could have been sent to scout reports of strange going ons by the local population. This way, they have a reason to take their sidearms and have transportation.

MJWare · Oct 3, 2010

Great information and good advice. I'll make it shortly after the liberation Paris, have them aways out of the city.

thothguard51 said:
Spoils of war were also a no-no once the war ended. Many a soldier got into trouble.

As far as side arms. During the war, the soldier carried his arms where ever he went. If he went on a little R&R back to a small village well from the front lines, his arms went with him. If to a larger city like Paris or Rome, the arms stayed at a central base from where they shipped in and out of. Even on R&R they had to report to where ever they were going so there was a record of them having been there.

After the war, the answer is clearly no arms of any type were allowed to be carried on leave. Can't have drunken soldiers shooting up the just liberated populace.

Instead of being on leave, maybe they could have been sent to scout reports of strange going ons by the local population. This way, they have a reason to take their sidearms and have transportation.

Shakesbear · Oct 3, 2010

There were lots of weapons abandoned by retreating soldiers - some of them were taken as souvenirs by Allied soldiers.

RJK · Oct 3, 2010

Officers wore sidearms. Enlisted men caried rifles. They wouldn't carry them in peacetime while off-duty.

Drachen Jager · Oct 4, 2010

thothguard51 said:
Spoils of war were also a no-no once the war ended. Many a soldier got into trouble.

Looting has been prohibited entirely for longer than that. Doesn't matter if the war was active or not. On the other hand it doesn't stop it from happening. It's so easy to walk into an abandoned house and think, "Well, they'll never be back, so they won't be needing any of this."

SPOILS of war appropriated by countries however... America has a long history of that. They stole Aspirin, Budweiser and numerous other products from Europe without so much as a by-your-leave.

Also, Germany just finished paying off war reparations from WW I.

Shadow_Ferret · Oct 4, 2010

I'm wondering, if a soldier was deployed in, say the European theater or Pacific theater, if they'd even GET leave until after their tour of duty was over. I'd think the military would worry too much about deserters.

RJK · Oct 4, 2010

Of course the soldiers got leave during wartime (earned at a rate of 30 days per year). If they were deployed in a combat zone, the leave would accrue until the unit was relieved.

Liberty, or weekend passes, were informal off-duty times. In Viet Nam, soldiers would take liberty in Saigon, and long weekend leave in Japan or Hawaii. They weren't prisoners. When a unit rotated out of combat, soldiers could travel back home, and take up to a month of leave. It didn't happen very often in WWII, but more frequently in Viet Nam, where a unit would serve a period of months (13-18) in country, then rotate back to their US base for 11-16 months, depending on the unit and how the war was going.

blacbird · Oct 4, 2010

RJK said:
In Viet Nam, soldiers would take liberty in Saigon,

Only prior to the Tet Offensive of 1968. After that, off-duty travel within Vietnam was severely curtailed, and usually travel orders signed by a duty officer had to be obtained. I worked in a Headquarters Unit where such travel was required, but it was generally more difficult for others.

Shadow_Ferret · Oct 4, 2010

RJK said:
Of course the soldiers got leave during wartime (earned at a rate of 30 days per year). If they were deployed in a combat zone, the leave would accrue until the unit was relieved.

That's sort of what I was trying to say.

RJK said:
They weren't prisoners.

Just owned.

MJWare · Oct 5, 2010

Wow, that's so much more info than I needed. BUT it's better to have too much and get it right than no enough and get it wrong!
-Thanks!

johnnysannie · Oct 6, 2010

mware01 said:
I'm writing a short for kids about a vet who tells the kids war stories.

.

This is just a thought that came to mind while reading the thread - the combat veterans I've known, the ones who really saw seroius, heavy duty action, ranging from my grandfather who fought in the Pacific during WWII to Iraq vets, don't like to talk about their experiences much....and seldom to kids. What stories were told often came out as catharasis.

When I was a kid, the closest thing to war stories that my grandfather told me was when we filled up the big, deep kitchen sink and played with plastic boats and he would talk about General MacArthur's landing (which he said was staged). He - my gfather - was Army; his brother served on the USS Alabama.

L.C. Blackwell · Oct 10, 2010

johnnysannie said:
the combat veterans I've known, the ones who really saw seroius, heavy duty action, ranging from my grandfather who fought in the Pacific during WWII to Iraq vets, don't like to talk about their experiences much....and seldom to kids. What stories were told often came out as catharasis.

Ordinarily, I'd agree, but since the two guys in the story find a Troll, I'm pretty sure this doesn't get too serious. That doesn't mean the details shouldn't be right. Any fisherman telling a whopper always starts out with convincing details--all the way up to the point he reels his audience in.

WW2 did solders carry sidearms while on leave

MJWare

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tallus83

MJWare

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thothguard51

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MJWare

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Shakesbear

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RJK

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Drachen Jager

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Shadow_Ferret

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RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

blacbird

Shadow_Ferret

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MJWare

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johnnysannie

L.C. Blackwell

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