I just discovered a good explanation of "Maggie's Drawers" and where the term actually came from on The Southwest Rifle Shooting Blog:
The History of "Maggie's Drawers" by Hap Rocketto
"As you so well know from your days at the Recruit Depot the term Maggie’s Drawers refers to the red flag waved vigorously across the face of the target to signify a complete miss of the target during practice.
Flags are no longer used, being replaced by value panels and chalk boards. However, one term from the flag days has held on with a tenacity that is indicative of the strong traditions of the high power community. If a shooter had the misfortune of firing a miss a red flag was waved across the front of the target. The flag is commonly known as “Maggie’s Drawers” giving us the term now generally used to refer to a miss.
I thought you might like to see this poem by James Stockton, a gunner with C Co., 5thTank Battalion, 5thMarDiv on Iwo Jima (WW-II).
"Maggie’s Drawers"
A hundred Marines sat on the line,
Rapid fire, and all was fine.
The rifles cracked, Bull's Eyes, we know;
Down came the targets, now they'll show.
White spotters adorned targets left and right,
Looked like snow, a pretty sight.
But Wait!!!! What's that where I shot?
Not a single one! . . . not one white spot.
I look for black ones 'round the "bull,"
No luck there either, I feel a chill.
They start the disks, white for bulls,
None for mine . . . there they were still.
A single pole rose o'er the butts
Waved back and forth, like in a rut.
A red flag waving, a miss of course,
And that red flag is "Maggie's Drawers."
The term Maggie’s Drawers seems to be based on, as many things are in the military, a bawdy song. Prior to The Great War (WW-1) there was an old music hall song entitled "The Old Red Flannel Drawers That Maggie Wore" which became bowdlerized, as things tend to be by the troops, into something less delicate than might have been sung in vaudeville in the United States or in British music Halls of the day? Below you will find a variant.
"The Old Red Flannel Drawers That Maggie Wore"
On the night that Maggie died she called me to her side and gave me those good old flannels
They were tattered, they were torn, 'Round the [bleep] they were worn. Those old red flannel drawers that Maggie wore.
When she stooped to fix her shoe You could see her ring-dang-doo Those old red flannel drawers that Maggie wore.
When she stooped to fix her lace You could see the promised place Those old red flannel drawers that Maggie wore.
When she stooped to fix her garter You could see her red tomato Those old red flannel drawers that Maggie wore.
When she threw them in the sea They came floating back to me Those old red flannel drawers that Maggie wore.
While I have no definitive proof that this is the origin of the term I feel it is as rational and as reasonable a source as any. As I have not heard of a competing story I feel pretty comfortable supporting this Etymology of the term.
Nifty-250
"If you don't know where you're going, you may wind up somewhere else". Yogi Berra
