Sunscreen North Africa

[Pootle]

Were troops from either side fighting in the desert in the Second World War given sun screen?

Thanks

[mrs_overall]

My uncle (91) spent a lot of the war in North Africa and I once asked him the same question.
When he'd finished laughing, he said "no"

[factor-fiction]

This suggests the answer is YES for some soldiers.


"There was no efficient sunscreen invented until 1944. During the Second World War many solders were getting sunburns. This led to the invention of something that could protect the solders from harmful sun rays. A pharmacist Benjamin Greene created a sticky red substance that he called a "red vet pet." It was only a start. Later, he created a more user friendly sunscreen. This product was even sold to consumers in and around Miami. So, people were no longer afraid of getting sunburns and there was a great demand for Greene's invention. "

http://www.syl.com/hb/theroleofsunscreens.html

The following refers to sunscreens fhttp://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Sunscreenor soldiers in Pacific

[factor-fiction]

This suggests the answer is YES for some soldiers.

"There was no efficient sunscreen invented until 1944. During the Second World War many solders were getting sunburns. This led to the invention of something that could protect the solders from harmful sun rays. A pharmacist Benjamin Greene created a sticky red substance that he called a "red vet pet." It was only a start. Later, he created a more user friendly sunscreen. This product was even sold to consumers in and around Miami. So, people were no longer afraid of getting sunburns and there was a great demand for Greene's invention. "
http://www.syl.com/hb/theroleofsunscreens.html

The following refers to sunscreens for soldiers in Pacific
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Sunscr een

[jake-the-peg]

Can't find any specific work on those in North Africa but a study of American service men in the Pacific showed a high prevalence in skin cancer amoungst them

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8496417

[blackietwo]

My grandad served in north afrrica (royal navy) at sea they were burnt a lot, not allowed to remove their clothes eg show their chest even off duty. Which suggest no protection for skin. The skin cancer in American service men could be related to the atom bomb tests which took place in the pacific as well as on land.

[jake-the-peg]

No I don't think so, the Bomb tests in the Pacific were after WWII and the work related to WWII veterans.

[blackietwo]

They were before I think, they dropped them on hiroshima and the other one naga something. they had been tested already

[123everton]

The tests came after the war as they searched for "clean" bombs that would kill the people but leave the buildings intact.
Sir Evelyn Wood recounted severe cases of sunburn (and sunstroke) to himself and others in his book "From Midshipman To Field Marshall" during The Sepoy Revolt so you'd have thought (hoped) that the top brass would have sorted out a solution by then

[jake-the-peg]

Hmmmm

The "clean" bombs that did that I recall were neutron bombs and their development was after the 1963 test ban treaty that outlawed atmospheric tests.

It was tested underground.

Or are you thinking of something else Everton?

[tamborine]

boot polish & calamine lotion

[blackietwo]

Ok i'm a bit confused now! the bombs dropped on hiroshima during world war 2. What were they? I thought they were nuclear, atomic, whatever. surely these were tested somewhere, sure it was the Nevada desert.

[123everton]

Christmas Island JTP

[Wozzawasp]

Soldiers serving in Egypt in 1947 were forbidden to sunbathe and it was a chargeable offence to report sick with sunburn or sunstroke. Can't remember such a thing as sunscreen.

[Mr Veritas]

Speaking as someone who served in Egypt in WW2,I can categorically say that neither the troops nor the officers had any kind of sun screen.
I can't say for sure what the Germans had(or more likely didn't))but as they were as brown as a joint of roast beef when we captured them I don't think they had any either!
I don't think the Generals etc (of either side) would have even thought of it.

[jake-the-peg]

Bit of confusion I think but I can see how.

Bombs that kill people but leave buildings standing like the neutron bomb are not very clean at all but excessively dirty. They have smaller force but release huge amounts of neutron radiation to kill people but not damage infrastructure.

I don't believe there's ever been an atmospheric test of such a device.

Christmas Island were Hydrogen bomb tests - very powerful compared to Fission bombs that used Uranium and Plutonium at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

They use fusion and not fision for the main blast so you migt think they are "clean" but at the heart of every Hydrogen bomb is a good old fashioned plutonium atomic bomb acting as a trigger and Fusion still generated intense neuton radiation.

I think at the time people involved in the Christmas Island tests may have been told they were "clean" this would not be accurate.

Indeed several service men from the Grapple tests out there have attempted to sue the Government for deliberately exposing them to that radiation.

I believe the radiation levels are still secret.