Hi, i do not often comment on relics or possible KIA items, but if they are held with the due respect that they deserve as a peice of brutal history and not some kind of "freak show" then i have no problem with them. A very sad and powerful image of the reality of war. Leon.
I have relic helmet that that could potentially be a KIA (an M35 with a hole from one side to the other) but without large amounts of DNA it's really hard to say if it was actually a KIA or just a helmet that was used as target practice. Also, any helmet in a collection may have been being worn at the time of the soldiers death without the helmet being touched and I'm sure that many in collections the world over fall into this category.
Personally I've never had any strange occurrences or feelings from my helmets or though I have thought about it. I give them all due respect and reverence as a piece of history and reminder of the brutal realities of war.
Very true. Could have been used for target practice. In any case, any unease and/or 'sadness' attributed to casualties of war kind of comes with the territory in our hobby. We collect equipment of war. Whose to say the rifles in our collections didn't kill anybody or the boots didn't belong to a KIA soldier. As an Aussie collector of WWII Japanese swords, I am well aware there is a chance they were even used on my own countrymen. 'War is Hell' but collecting the stuff is great!by reneblacky
It isn't a ground found item so has been in someone elses possession since the original owner, lost it. No way to know it was worn at the time of damage but the fact the leather liner has been cut away makes me think it is more than possible it was worn at the time. With only a partial surname it is not going to be traceable, but if you know roughly where it was found then it helps the story.
Some photos of liner; not sure if it’s simply my imagination but the helmet does have a strange smell.
Similar Threads
Posting Permissions
.
Bookmarks