There were good boots available for the U.S. soldiers in Europe, of the type made popular by L. L. Bean after the war—well-insulated, with leather uppers and rubber bottoms—but to the everlasting disgrace of the quartermasters and all other rear-echelon personnel, who were nearly all wearing them by mid-December, not until late January did the boots get to where they were needed—to the men in misery on the front line.[1]

Maj. Gen. Paul Hawley, the chief surgeon for ETO, commented bluntly, “The pain truth is that the footwear furnished U.S. troops is lousy.”[1]

~~~~~

Col. Ken Reimers of the 90th Division noted that “every day more men are falling out due to trench foot. Some men are so bad they can’t wear shoes and are wearing oversoles over their socks. These men can’t walk and are being carried from sheltered pillbox positions at night to firing positions in the day time.”[2]

~~~~~

In place of boots, the men got directives on how to prevent trench foot. They were ordered to massage their feet and change their socks every day.

Sergeant Lick recalled, “We would remove our wet socks, hang them around our neck, massage our feet, and then put on the dry socks from around our neck that we had put there the day before. Then a directive came down stating that anyone getting trench foot would be tried by court martial.”[3]

~~~~~

Senior officers threatened court-martial to men who got trench foot, or took disciplinary action against junior officers whose units had a high incidence of the malady, because they suspected the foxhole dwellers were getting it deliberately. They thought it was almost the equivalent of a self-inflicted wound.[4]

~~~~~

The best way to avoid trench foot was to lace the boots lightly and take them off at night before climbing into the sleeping bag or covering yourself with a blanket.

But, Lick said, “We couldn’t take our boots off when we slept because they would freeze solid and we couldn’t get them on again in the morning.”

The obvious solution, quickly learned by thousands of men, was to take the boots off but keep them inside a sleeping bag or overcoat.

Still there was another reason for keeping the boots on, the possible need for instant action.[5]

~~~~~

[1] Cowdrey, Fighting for Life, 266. Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers, 259.

[2] Colby, War from the Ground Up, 344. Ibid. 

[3] Leo Lick memoir, EC. Quoted in: Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers, 259-260.

[4] Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers, 259-260.

[5] Leo Lick memoir, Ibid.

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