My D-Day helmet ........
In my relic helmet collection I have this M35. I originally got it from a fellow who picked it up many years ago in the area of Ver-Sur-Mere, ( Gold Beach ) half buried in sand near an observation bunker. In subsequent emails he said he was on holiday in the 1980's in Normandy and found the helmet in a scrubby area between the beach and the main road when he stopped to answer a call of nature!!!
A nice story that I cannot prove or disprove but his detail was pretty specific - so I tend to believe it. The salt certainly got to half of it and the protected side ( I assumed this was the buried side ) has been cleaned but has a nice tricolour remaining. It is an early M35 with brass rivets and originally had an aluminium liner band.
There is a number ( 53 i think ) which I assume is a garrison number?? - I've seen numbers on gas masks for when they were left in barracks but helmets??
Also the apple green paint has really blackened from the reaction with the ground / sand / etc....
Anyway, on this 70th anniversary of the event, this is my personal souvenir regardless of whether it was lost before, on, or after the 6th June 1944.
Cheers, Dan
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