Nightmare's End

For years the U.S. soldier's grey-greens have been a nuisance to him. They are hard to adjust, complicated to lace (especially the left one), have a trick of starting to go adrift at crucial moments. Beyond that, a bumpily laced, hurriedly donned legging will inevitably bring a bark from the noncom, a frigid stare from the nearest officer.

Last week the War Department gave harassed G.I.s better news than a 16-day furlough. The devilish leggings are on the way out. They will soon be replaced by leather combat boots ten inches high. The lower part of the boot is laced; the top part, into which the trouser leg tucks, is neatly buckled. Combat soldiers, long envious of the Germans' comfortable, homely field boot, thought it was about time.

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