Eisenhower Jacket - The Post-WWII Redesigns and Adaptations

The Post-WWII Redesigns and Adaptations

Post World War II development of the U.S. field jacket was momentous. In 1947, the Army introduced a shorter and better tailored version of the M-44. Designated the MQ-1 and designed solely as a dress and parade uniform, the jacket was again refined in 1950 and re-introduced as the M-1950 Field Jacket, but without button cuffs. With the later introduction of the "Army green" U.S. Army service uniform in 1957, the Ike jacket gradually began to disappear domestically but was still a uniform option for troops stationed in international theaters.

In 1947, The United States Air Force (USAF) added still another Ike jacket design iteration, the M-47, and continued its use for the next two years, before changing its color to "Air Force blue" in 1949, where it remained a signature of the USAF, until being retired in 1964.

The design of the M-1943 jacket was to prove so successful, that many military forces around the world still wear field jackets that closely follow its original designs. During the 50's, a modified version, called the M-1950, was issued to U.S. forces in Korea. It had a button-in liner instead of the separate liner garment as in the M-1943. During the next year, the sometimes permanently hooded, M-1951 coat came in to use. It was another very similar design, but now had both a zip instead of buttons under the front fly and metal snap closures for the pockets. The M-1951 field jacket was actually not sent to the forces in Korea until after the 1953 armistice and so was not seen during the Korean War. It thus remained in service until replaced by the M-1965 field jacket in 1965.

Thanks to its greater comfort and the unobstructed ease it offered while operating a vehicle or brandishing a side-arm, the Ike jacket design became a popular post-WWII uniform staple among Federal and state law enforcement agencies as well as with countless numbers of municipal and civilian police departments throughout America.

To this day, uniforms of the U.S. Border Patrol, along with most allied agencies within its broader, umbrella department, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (USCBPA) have a dress jacket that is nearly identical to the Ike jacket original.