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In the 1961 French film Lola (set in the Atlantic French harbour Nantes), American soldiers wear the white uniforms seen below:

Was this uniform typical for these soldiers in Nantes following WW2?

Are these uniforms credible?
Or are they fabrications designed to produce a particular cinematographic effect? (for instance giving an impression of light in the otherwise rather dark setting of the film)
I am especially talking about the white color.

enter image description here enter image description here

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    These are accurate. Other than hats and rank specialization, there weren't a lot of uniform changes between 1869 and 1973. See history.navy.mil/library/online/uniform_enlisted.htm.
    – Comintern
    Commented Jun 29, 2014 at 16:51
  • Is there a reason you're suspicious?
    – MCW
    Commented Jun 29, 2014 at 19:34
  • That is what they wore. Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 21:33

2 Answers 2

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Looks not unreasonable to me. Superficially, that looks like the US Naval Uniform, Summer white, enlisted. I did a google search on that term. I'll admit that I was disappointed by the amount of noise in the results, but I found the following examples that are similar to the pictures you've cited.

I am puzzled by the lack of sleeve insignia. Today, I'd conclude that these men are E-1 (no insignia). I've actually never seen an E-1; they grow up so fast.


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  • Battleships of the Iowa's class in WWII had three guns per turret. The caption is probably accurate.
    – Oldcat
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 18:54
  • at pacificbattleship.com/page/news_photos there are pictures of the WWII Iowa's guns..as well as a sculpture reproducing my kissing picture!
    – Oldcat
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 22:09
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VE DAY KISS

This famous photo is known to have been to been taken on VE Day in New York. Note the man in the rear in the identical sailor uniform, and the kisser is in a dark version of the same.

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  • That puzzles me - there should never be a situation where winter and summer uniforms are worn at the same time. On the other hand the lack of any sleeve insignia on the kisser suggests that the uniform code at that time was different than it is now.
    – MCW
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 19:01
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    These are people from a number of places meeting in Times Square IIRC, in the Spring. Different ships/bases might cut over at different times based on how hot it was expected to be.
    – Oldcat
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 19:37
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    From Mark Wallace's post Example 2, this might be a combination of undress whites and dress blue uniforms.
    – Oldcat
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 22:11

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