A gas cape was a sort of plastic wrap that came packed in a mall packet. In the event of a spray attack, you were supposed to open up the package, put the cape over you and thus protect against air sprayed chemical munitions. They were seldom used as there were no aerial spray attacks. Up until a few years ago, you could still find them in the older surplus stores for about a dollar. (Bill Howard)
I received a gas cape just before we went to Normandy in 1944. It was a plastic like material made in the shape of a large pillow case. It reached from the wearer's head to about his knees. The upper one forth was clear while the lower portion was a dark material. This was in addition to the gas mask and, I believe, impregnated fatigues. I don't know how you were supposed to operate with that covering your body and no one ever told us. Perhaps everyone was embarrassed by it. I must say, though, it made an excellent ground sheet. (Jay Stone)
The official Name is:
COVER, PROTECTIVE, INDIVIDUAL COLD CLIMATE
Stock No. 72-C-1100
Contract No. W -36-030-QM-5233
I do not think you were supposed to do much "functioning" while under attack. Hopefully the intelligence would give warning of the attack and you quickly put on mask and gas cape and hunkered down until the attack was over.
My active duty time was 1964 to 1970. Seem to remember that we trained the troops to use their ponchos for this role, however I felt it was unlikely that they would ever find themselves in a spray attack. At that time, however we didn't now that much about Agent Orange.
(Bill Howard)In the late 1940s/early 1950s, these things were advertised in the back pages of comic books as "rain covers for two." I couldn't understand how two people could walk together inside one of these things, and how the transparent area could possibly stay that way with two people breathing inside! I never saw a real one, and now you have solved the mystery! (Bill Carmody)
Back to September 11th, 1939