Dress uniforms.

[boots and saddles]

Were soldiers of WW2 issued with a dress uniform or did they have to buy it themselves? Second question. Was the custom of getting the battledress customized frowned upon? It seems a lot of them were changed,I have some which have many pleats added.

[Bill A]

Hey Ray, Dress uniforms were not issued in WW2. The standard issue uniform was the battledress. Most soldiers had a couple of sets. The scale of issue / clothing card indicates how many sets each soldier was allowed.
Most soldiers modified their best battledress. The nature of the modification was sometimes an issue. For example, opening the collar was definitely frowned upon for the other ranks until later in the war.

[boots and saddles]

They weren't issued but were they available, I mean the ones with the Regimental or GS brass buttons on the outside. I know Officers wore them but I imagine they bought them. Ray

[Bill A]

Ray, Do you mean service dress or dress uniforms?

[boots and saddles]

Bill I was thinking about the Khaki jacket that didn't have a belt like the Battledress but was longer with flap pockets (i believe) & had a belt around the waist , Nicer materioal also. The Air Force had them also but they were blue & I don't know if they had to buy them or not because they had the battle dress also, but blue of course.. I didn't mean the coloured type Regimental dress with the stripe down the leg. They all had their different colours. What are these called? Stewart had them all listed in his book. Concise linages etc.

[Voltigeur]

Hello Bill and Ray. I think what Ray is referring to is the "Walking out" uniform that came out in 1942.It was called the Service Dress Jacket, it was patterned like the RCAF 4-pockets Service Dress but in Khaki, and had an attached cloth belt of the same material.It was issued to troops in Canada only.
Jo

[Bill A]

JO, With "nicer" material, Ray is referring to the officer's service dress uniform, as worn by many officers and rsm's. The service dress that you refer to Jo was a tunic only issued and worn in Canada to the best of my knowledge. It was made of a coarser material than the officers service dress. These were issue while the osd was purchased. They were not popular, and are seldom seen today.

[Voltigeur]

Ho! OK I get it. Did not notice the "nicer material" which in this case could be Barathea?
Jo

[iain]

hello ray,i am not sure if what you are looking for is the 1922 patten service dress (i think thats right,have to check up) it was a third pattern i think of that used during W.W.1 i have seen pictures of troops wearing this along side those in battle dress, but whether it was fased out as the bd came in im not entirely sure but i have one of the rifle brigade wiyh buttons issued oct 1939 so was in use then. ian

[John Cameron]

Ray, If you are referring to the Canadian Other Rank's Service Dress worn during the Second World War, some information can be had here:
http://mpmuseum.org/provostservice2.html

[iain]

hi ,seems i put my big foot in it, wasn't aware you was talking canadian dress sorry. iain

[Bill A]

No problem iain. Your point added to the discussion. I had not thought about the differences between the issue of uniforms for the imperial forces as compared to the Dominions.