My family heirloom: a ww2 German helmet

[burb1989]

This piece is very special to me as a family member sent this helmet home before he was killed. My great uncle served with the 83rd infantry division following his landing on Omaha beach during d day. During his short service through France he sent home many items including three helmets, three rifles, a p38 pistol, a nazi party flag, and several bayonets and knives. He unfortunately was killed in action during the battle of Brest, where he was killed by a mortar round. My grandfather, his younger brother, never got to know him since my grandpa was 7 when my great uncle was killed but he kept the crate my great uncle sent home with all of his bring backs inside. After my grandpa passed away last October my brother and I decided to open the crate when we discovered it in my grandparent's guest room. I took this helmet, a k98, the p38, and two bayonets. Hope you all like this heirloom as well as its history.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

Always nice to see things that have a solid provenance with the originator. I see a couple of pieces, where's the rest?

[burb1989]

The k98 and one of the bayonets are in my safe and they probably will never be shot since I have a shooter k98 already (I'll try and get them out and post them as well). The p38 is missing a magazine and holster so I want to find all of those before I put it up for display. The second bayonet ended up in the picture by accident. It is a model 98/05 butcher blade that has a blued blade on it (not sure how my great uncle came into that one but it was interesting enough to bring home from Colorado where his items were). My brother took another k98, a helmet, a bayonet, and the flag since it was nailed to the bottom of the crate and he wanted to have something to start a german display. My sister took the last remaining helmet, the last k98, and a bayonet (she's getting into collecting and really wanted something family related since only me and my brother have kept the family war heirlooms).

[AZPhil]

That is great that the items are staying in the family.
That is a nice looking M40 helmet. Is the liner intact and do you know who made it?
Semper Fi
Phil

[burb1989]

The liner's intact but due to bad storage of the crate it is very brittle. From what I could see with a flashlight and not disturbing the liner I saw Berlin and what I think was 1941 for a year of manufacture. It is also a size 57 from what little I could read of the tab. The chinstrap is intact as well. The original was cut in three places (I guess my great uncle had trouble getting the helmet off of whoever was wearing it) and my brother went to a gun show and found a chin strap to replace it. The seller had no idea if the strap was real or a repro so my brother bought it for $15 under the assumption it was a repro. I had it looked over by people who have dealt with german helmets before and they've all said the chin strap appears real.

[burb1989]

Here's a picture of the inside of my helmet. As you can see the liner has seen better days but granted it spent 70 years in an unopened crate it looks pretty darn good.

[AZPhil]

There should be some letters before the "57". That will tell you who made it.
Semper Fi
Phil

[burb1989]

If those letters are there they are pretty worn off. I could barely make out the 57 mark and I doubt I even got that correct. I could see that the size is in the 50s but other than that everything else has worn away with age and deteriorating leather condition. Sorry about that. I did get another look at the liner band and it definitely has Berlin over 1941. there is something over the Berlin mark that looks like a couple of letters. I would try and delve further but I'm afraid of hurting the leather.

[browningautorifle]

If you post a WTB on the appropriate forum here, you'll likely come up with a P38 mag and holster. The big bayonet could have been issued to a second line regt, they sometimes got older gear. The SS also got strange issues...like no two units had the same weapons it seemed.

[burb1989]

I just might go to the WTB forum and get a post going. I do however know a dealer that sells original p38 holsters so I'll see him next month at our little militaria show we have twice a year. As to magazines I'll be on the hunt at that show too. If both leads don't pan out I'll post in the WTB forum and see what happens. How my great uncle came into the big bayonet makes sense to me since he did fight a couple of SS units during his service (he was fighting an SS panzer corps unit when he died). Maybe it came from there or from an earlier encounter. No one in the family knows where exactly he picked his items up. Supposedly there was letter he wrote with the crate explaining the items inside and where he picked each one up but sadly that letter has been lost over time along with his dress uniform and the uniform he was wearing when he was killed. The p38 must've been on him when he was killed since it was wrapped in his blood soaked uniform when it came back (at least that is the story my great grandmother always told my grandfather). My grandmother found the p38 in an old box along with my great uncle's purple heart and a photo of him in uniform before he left for training in Britain.