(First World War – Korea) Canvas. leather or cloth bindings, strapped, buckled, tied or wrapped to the ankles for support and to keep out mud, snow and water. (background) By the Korean War, the Army had abandoned the use of them but the Marine Corps retained them for their distinctive look. When a dispatch from a Chinese Communist general was found, in which he ordered his troops not to engage the “yellow legs” and to seek out the less fierce Army units, the U. N. command ordered the Marines to stop wearing the leggings.