Ah! This brings back memories! I went into the Army in 1959...right at the tail end of the "Brown Shoe Army". They were fazing out brown combat boots and going to black. In the initial issue...some guys got the brown ones, some got the black. They were getting rid of certain sizes in the brown ones. Of course....the brown ones had to be dyed black, so a number of guys in my company sat out on the company street and had a dying session. I went through basic at Fort Ord, CA. There, on occasion, when the weather was right we would get some kind of white residue on our boots from the salt air. An old mess Sergeant showed me how to stop this. You cut a spud in half and rub the moisture from the spud on your boots and let it dry, then polish them. You never got that white residue again.