Garand Picture of the day Marines - Samoa 1942

[twobravo]

[TerryS]

The guy in the old tin hat and no pack is probably a sailor. And the British and American old style tin hats were differently shaped.

[Mark in Rochester]

Interesting that compared to all the other Garand's the gas cylinder of one stands out so much.

A landing boat load of curious Leathernecks approaches the sand and coarl strip which they will call home for the next 7 months. Samoan Area - October 1942

[TerryS]

I seem to have replied earlier to the wrong thread. The man in the old tin hat and no pack is probably a sailor. And the British syle and American were different. The "DI hat" may be a garrison cover in its wicker carrier, or a pith helmet ?

[conductor]

One also has a "DI" hat on his pack, Top left center.

That's not a "DI hat", that's a pith helmet, AKA "sun helmet", worn by Marines throughout the WW2 era. My next-door neighbor wore one in boot camp in 1943, and has a picture of him wearing khakis, boondockers, and a sun helmet that was taken at MCRD San Diego.
Also, DIs didn't start wearing the campaign hat until about 1960.

[Bill Hollinger]

TwoBravo, it's a Pith helmet.

[CapnJohn]

M1917(A1) Helmet
In 1917, when the US Army entered WWI a new model helmet was adopted. This was the M1917, a copy of the British helmet. It soon turned out that the design had some major flaws, of which the poor protection of the side and rear of the head and the instability were the most important. To address this second issue a new suspension was designed, and in early 1936 a Field Modification Order was dispatched, ordering that all M1917 helmets were to be fitted with the new suspension and a new chinstrap. These modified helmets were designated as the M1917A1. the new suspension was made of steel strips, padded with leather. In the crown a leather pad was placed. The new chinstraps were made of khaki webbing, and closed with a hook and arrow buckle. The same chinstrap would also be fitted to the later M1 helmet. It was looped through the bales of the shell and then sewn to the loops fixed to the suspension itself.

When at the end of the 1930's war came ever closer in Europe the Rock Island Arsenal issued a contract in 1940 to the McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Corporation for nearly 2 million newly produced M1917A1 helmets. When about 900.000 new helmets were delivered the rest of the contract was terminated in favour of the new type M1combat helmet. The helmets of the 1940 contract have "17A" stamped behind the rim seam. Although a throwback to WWI and obsolete, the M1917A1 helmet was the primary combat helmet for the US forces in early WWII.

[CapnJohn]

During the Anglo-Zulu War, British troops dyed their white pith helmets with tea for camouflage. Soon khaki-coloured pith helmets became standard issue for service as well.

Pith helmets were widely worn during World War I by British Empire, Turkish, Belgian, French and German colonial troops fighting in the Middle East and Africa.

Helmets of this style (but without true pith construction) were used as late as World War II by European and American military personnel in hot climates. Included in this category are the sun helmets worn in North Africa by Italian troops, South African Army and Air Force units and Germany's Afrika Korps, as well as similar helmets used to a more limited extent by U.S. and Japanese [3] forces in the Pacific Theater. The entire military of the America's colony the Philippines, which consisted of an army and a gendarmerie, used sun helmets. The U.S. Marine Corps used pith helmets called "elephant hats" in the South Pacific. They were also worn by recruits in United States Marine Corps Boot Camp. The Axis Second Philippine Republic's military, known as the Bureau of Constabulary, as well as other guerrilla groups in the Philippines was another user of sun helmets. The British Army formally abolished the tropical helmet in 1948.
Above courtesy of WikiPedia

[twobravo]

Thanks for all the info on the pith helmet. I knew what it was, I just didn't know how to spell it.

[mousegun]

One also has a "DI" hat on his pack, Top left center.

Pith Helmet.

oops! nevermind...