Yellow MK2

[Grenademan2005]

You can see in some reports US soldiers embarking for D-Day with yellow MKIIs on belts. Yellow was always HE, (High Explosive) colour, as Red was Practice before it changed to Blue. I have MKII grenades painted yellow over grey, yellow, green, green over yellow and green over red. Eodtek you made a great job with those original letters. Good info. Also the manual from Kilroy.

 

[Eodtek]

Eodtek you made a great job with those original letters. Good info. Also the manual from Kilroy.

Thanks Miguel. I'm trying to compile more but my real job keeps getting in the way. Things probably won't slow down until the end of the summer and then hopefully I can get back to compiling and writing.

Mike

 

[Grenademan2005]

Hi:
No problem, job is first of all. And more in these times where the situtation is so critical. I also will post some pics of my colour combinations when I can for ilustrate what we are talking here.

 

[EODGUY]

I know the question has been answered, but I thought throwing in pages from a late 1920's manual on US color codes and markings might have some interest. I have only included a couple of examples of the yellow color, which was also used for demolition bombs, trench mortars and explosive loadings in other artillery projectiles. Red projectiles were shrapnel, except that the low explosive loading for the 37mm M1916 field gun was also painted red at this time.

 

[Grenademan2005]

All contributions are always welcome.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

You can see in some reports US soldiers embarking for D-Day with yellow MKIIs on belts. Yellow was always HE, (High Explosive) colour, as Red was Practice before it changed to Blue. I have MKII grenades painted yellow over grey, yellow, green, green over yellow and green over red. Eodtek you made a great job with those original letters. Good info. Also the manual from Kilroy.

Hi Miguel, thanks, it is a great little USMC manual. It mentions about grenades and ordnance in many places, and really is a great reading. You can find them on ebay cheaply sometimes. You should get one.
I also have seen some pictures from D-day 1944 time period with yellow still being used at this late date. It is obvious it was not possible to completely upgrade and paint all the millions of grenades. It was probably not as critical as many other issues of the time.

Nice grenades you mention Miguel, I believe I have also seen them before in a few of your photos. I have not seen the "Grey overpainted Green" before. That sounds like a nice grenade. Here are my examples of some these overpainted types you mention. The overpainted red one has a short spoon "cut-back" fuze that appears to be orig. to the grenade. So it must be an early WW2 grenade I would think.

The condition of the two overpainted Mk2's is not so good, but are two of my favorite Mk2's. One was found by a friend in the Hurtgenwald battlefield, and I have the GPS and Google earth picture exactly where it was found. The other was found in a old barn in Belgium. They are real battle relics, and of course, we all wish they could talk :nerd: these would be interesting stories to hear. I put notes with the info on piece of paper rolled up inside grenades for someone to find 100 years from now. The note also says.... "keep your damn hands of my grenades A**hole" :wink:

Regards, Steve