US Army Wool Wrap Puttees

The word puttee comes from the Hindi word for bandage, and consists of a long piece of material wrapped in a spiral around the leg to give it support and protection. As you might guess, the British Army in India adopted it, and from there it spread to other countries, including the U.S. once it got into WWI.

Conventional U.S. military thinking was that these wool wraps would work better in the damp and muddy trenches of France than the canvas leggings worn by American soldiers in Cuba, the Philippines and the American Southwest. The design was simply copied from British Army kit. Originally issued to the AEF, in 1919 they became standard issue for enlisted men other than the mounted services in the rest of the army. Photo 4 is from a period photograph showing wear.

My putties are 3 ½ inches wide and over 9 feet long. The ties are an additional 4 ½ feet, and the most action they’ve seen have been attacks by moths – a battle that was being lost before I rescued them.

From accounts I’ve read and heard, the Americans didn’t like the wraps as well as the gaiters. They were hard to put on, uncomfortable, and could come undone at the worst times. By the opening of WWII, Americans were back in gaiters, this time in web rather than canvas.