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Advisory Panel
Here's some info for you to consume, I hope you can access it OK... It will give you some things to look at while waiting for another possible ident...
Rough guide to the US M-1, M-2 M-1C shell
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04-02-2015 02:37 PM
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That was a great read Jim thanks
. From what I could gather since my helmet does have a front seam it was made before 1944 when they moved the seam to the back but since it has swivel bales it would be later than the early war so I at least narrowed it down that much.
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Jim is correct about the stamps under the brim being hard to see. Often, if they were stamped at all they're next to invisible now.
Your liner is WWII vintage. WWII liners used khaki colored webbing and then they changed it to OD green near the end of WWII. (I doubt any of the green WWII liners even made it to combat)
'Front seam' shells are WWII vintage and sought after by collectors. They changed to rear seam later in the war. Nobody knows for sure why (yet) - The earliest M1
helmets used welded on 'Fixed Bale' helmet strap loops with front seam. A year or so later they changed to 'swivel bale' loops because so many 'fixed bale' loops were breaking off. Many think it was from soldiers using their helmets to sit on.
The 'W' inside the oval marking is for Westinghouse.
Nice find!
~ Harlan
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
Harlan
Many think it was from soldiers using their helmets to sit on.
That's how we broke them for sure. We had lots of them when I started out, the US had sold us all their surplus stuff and we literally had all the early and late mixed up. Everything...
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Thank You to browningautorifle For This Useful Post:
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Thanks Harlan for the experienced insight. I really liked it at first because of this helmet's particular history. Now I like it even more knowing that all the components are ww2 vintage so now I have a helmet that for the most part saw two wars and survived 70+ years to make it to me.
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You're more than welcome, and I sometimes feel exactly the same as you - I have a few pristine helmets, but I doubt any of them ever left the U.S....
You're helmet shows all signs of having seen action in at least two wars! It might have even been to early Vietnam in our 'advisory' capacity!
Really cool helmet that shows real use!
~ Harlan
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Thanks Jim. I found one beat up fixed bale that was otherwise completely re-set up for Vietnam, with resown on Vietnam era straps, worn VN liner, and the shell had been repainted at least once. It looked like it had been together for a long time and I wondered if any of the early WWII helmet shells could have made it through to Vietnam like that. I know both of our allied armies would often reuse gear until it practically disintegrated! Thanks again for the info Jim!
~ Harlan
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Thanks Harlan I'm proud of this find. As to it going to vietnam that's a big maybe. I know the soldier who had this helmet was still in the marines by 1958 so anything's possible. This makes only one of four helmets I currently own. There's this one, my dad's helmet from Vietnam(it was discussed a long time back on here but due to some heated arguments the thread was locked thanks to the wisdom of the moderator at the time) a german helmet my great uncle sent home from France(I have a thread on that already), and a Japanese helmet I bought from an old navy corpsman who picked it up on Okinawa.
Last edited by burb1989; 04-03-2015 at 02:02 AM.
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burb1989, maybe you somehow caught a moderator in a bad day, or in the middle of a moderator somewhere trying to work with a bad member here, which happens almost daily. At times we are beat to death just trying to solve current problems.
Jim (BAR) and I are not like that at all. Jim is almost like a brother to me and he works his rear end off trying to help here
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I didn't have a problem with a moderator Harlan. Just the opposite. There were a couple of nay Sayers who kept saying that my dad's helmet was a fake and we started getting into some heated debates. The moderator at the time saw it best to lock the thread to prevent more arguments. I messaged the moderator thanking them for doing so. I really appreciate what all of the moderators do here to help everyone with their items and at times act as referees if the situation calls for it.
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