MINT PERFECT ORIG US ARMY KHAKI COTTON-FILLED COMFORTER DATED MAR 27, 1942

Description

This is a pretty scarce item, one you don't see even in some of the most comprehensive collector guides for WWII US Army field gear, it is a mint condition U.S. Army Cotton Filled Comforter, dated March 27, 1942, based on a Quartermaster specification of February 12, 1942.  For example, I do not see it mentioned or described in either Kenneth Lewis' book
Doughboy to GI
, nor in Henri-Paul Enjames'
Government Issue: US Army European Theater of Operations Collector's Guide.
It is listed, but not described or illustrated, in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Supply Catalog of August, 1943.  By the time the US Army Quartermaster Supply Catalog of May, 1946 was published it is listed as "LIMITED STANDARD -- To be issued until exhausted," meaning that it had been phased out of the US Army's individual equipment available from the Quartermaster, and would no longer be replaced when supplies ran out. I suspect this is because a cotton-filled comforter is a fairly bulky and extravagant item for combat use, and in any case would have been rendered useless if it got wet. The only picture I have ever seen of this item was taken in 1941 during training exercises at Fort Lewis, Washington, which I have included as the last image above. **************** The comforter is made of quilted khaki cotton, and is filled with cotton batting. It measures about 66 by 84 inches and is about one to one and a half inches thick. There is a Quartermaster specification tag sewn into the edge, this reads: "COMFORTER, COTTON FILLED, Crawford-Austin Mfg. Co., Contract W 669 qm-16890, Dated March 27, 1942, Tent. Spec. P.Q.D. No. 134, Dated February 12, 1942, Stock No. 27-C-7400, Philadelphia Q.M. Depot, Inspector."  The Crawford-Austin company was located in Waco, Texas. In WWII, they made a variety of items including haversacks, tents, folding cots, mattresses, cotton duck, and comforters. This comforter was made under a contract issued in March, 1942, and fulfilled in December, 1942, for ,531,000 worth of comforters. This was a fairly large contract, and must have involved a lot of comforters, so it is surprising to see so few of them have survived. Perhaps these proved more useful in a civilian surplus market than they did as an item to be used in combat. ************ The comforter is in mint, perfect condition, never used. I obtained it from the estate of a US Army medical officer who was stationed stateside during the war. There is no soiling, no signs of use or wear, no damage of any kind. Color is a nice deep khaki.  See photos for condition. ***********  I can ship worldwide. Free shipping to a US address. Non-US buyers pay exact shipping costs only.