Wedding and other style dresses made from World War II parachutes.

Maj. Claude and Ruth Hensinger on their wedding day in 1947. Photo via South Whitehall Patch.

While researching a vintage 1945 army cargo parachute we have in stock I stumbled upon the interesting practice of making women's dresses out of a soldiers parachute. Some were actually made by the GI and are kind of folky. Others were quite sophisticated and made by a professional seamstress when the soldier got back home. Ridiculously Interesting wrote about this amazing dress.

WWII wedding dress made from a life-saving parachute

"This is by far the coolest wedding dress I’ve ever heard of, made in 1947 from a nylon parachute which saved the groom’s life during WWII. (Now in the Costume Collection of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian).

In 1944, an American B-29 pilot named Maj. Claude Hensinger was returning with his crew from a bombing raid over Yowata, Japan, when the plane’s engine caught fire. After using his parachute to safely jump from the doomed aircraft, the chute further helped him to survive by providing shelter until he was rescued. After returning home from war to Pennsylvania, he proposed to his girlfriend Ruth in 1947, and she used the life-saving parachute as material for her wedding dress. Modeled on a dress which appeared in Gone With The Wind, the skirt uses the original parachute strings, which Ruth pulled up in the front to create the train effect in the back.
That piece of chute fabric was the only thing between life and death for Claude, the only reason he was able to come home and marry Ruth. At a time when so many other young men did not return, this piece of material would have been worth more to the couple than all the finest silks and lace in the world. You couldn’t ask for a more fitting wedding dress fabric.

The remarkable dress is now in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History".  Wedding photograph from South Whitehall Patch.

Besides wedding dresses, christening and baptism dresses were also made. Here are some more examples from the web. I do not own any of these dresses or photographs.

Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887-1976)

No question that one of the most important figures in the Allies winning World War II was Field Marshall "Monty" Montgomery. He defeated Erwin Rommel and "The Desert Fox" in North Africa that was made famous in the movie by the same name. He also was a thorn in General Pattons side as they rushed to liberate Italy. They were extremely
competitive. Check out the movie "Patton" to see Pattons thoughts regarding Monty.
This original oil is signed indistinctly on the lower right corner. I have included a couple photos of the signature. It is extremely painterly and well done. A perfect addition to the collection of a World War II, anglophile or British military history buff. I love this painting. It is 6" x 8" and is on masonite. It is available for sale here.

Dazzle Ships

From Publicdomainreview.org   

One of my very favorite websites is Public Domain Review, check it out.

Dazzle camouflage (also known as Razzle Dazzle or Dazzle painting) was a military camouflage paint scheme used on ships, extensively during World War I and to a lesser extent in World War II. The idea is credited to the artist Norman Wilkinson who was serving in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve when he had the idea in 1917. After the Allied Navies failed to develop effective means to disguise ships in all weathers, the dazzle technique was employed, not in order to conceal the ship, but rather to make it difficult for the enemy to estimate its type, size, speed and direction of travel. After seeing a canon painted in dazzle camouflage trundling through the streets of Paris, Picasso is reported to have taken credit for the innovation which seemed to him a quintessentially Cubist technique.

RMS Olympic (1918)

 

HMS Argus (1918)

 HMS Underwing (1918)

 USS St. George (1944)

 USS Nebraska (1918)