High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The U.S. Army developed the M-1943 Uniform Ensemble beginning in 1942 to replace a variety of other specialist uniforms and some inadequate garments, like the OD Cotton Field Jacket. By 1941, soldiers wore a wool flannel shirt and wool serge trousers in winter and a cotton khaki shirt and trousers in summer, both with ankle length russet leather service shoes and OD canvas leggings, and often with the OD cotton field jacket. Armored units still were using wool riding breeches and wore high-lacing boots in some cases, and the Paratroopers were stuck with a general issue HBT overalls with no real suitable footwear.