Non-standard uniforms in the Pacific

These photos were taken at HQ, 193rd Tank Battalion in Hawaii, probably early 1944. These noncoms are wearing the non-standard combination of olive drab shirt with khaki trousers and overseas cap, along with officer's belt buckle and no tie. I think they look pretty spiffy (my dad is on the right). I wonder if this was a common practice in armored units. I should also note that in other photos they are wearing the standard all-khaki uniform.



My dad took this photo of his LVT crew after landing on Makin Island in 1943. Note the strange combination of uniform elements.

 

Don't know about how common this was, but my intuition about the first three photos are that these senior NCOs are engaging in a long tradition of NCO's upgrading their appearance to that of officers. A phenomenon widespread in European armies with a cadre of career NCOs that wanted/needed to be distinguished from the mass of conscripts. Specifically in this Hawaii tank battalion case, mixing dark tops (well starched) with light pants mimics the officers "pinks and greens" as opposed to the enlisted man's dress coat and pants which were both the same drab green.