M35 “vet-bring-back” woodwork find

**Danmark** · 03-12-2013, 11:03 AM

Hi all,
I’ve been itching to tell this tale for the past 4 weeks – this is how long it has taken to secure the deal and get this helmet shipped over here from the USA – and until I had it in my hands I wasn’t going to believe my good fortune! ( I'm doing the Walter Huston happy dance!!! )

Back in February I saw this for sale. I quickly contacted the seller for better photos and found the granddaughter of a WW2 veteran who along with her mother was clearing out boxes of her late grandfather’s personal items. The old boy never threw stuff away and it was all too hard to sort it out after his passing …. until now. Bills had to be paid and all that old junk must be worth something, right?

So what I ended up with was a sleeper of a M35 that has lived the last 60 odd years hidden away from the world. It is a SE66 with a lot number of 4647 and I reckon still looks the same as when the soldier picked it up back then - no cleaning, no fiddling, no BS – just a neat original Heer reissue ( still with some mud stuck in the vent hole )

I particularly like the factory / field? respray – how it has covered the tricolour but the eagle was masked over…. just. I can’t make out the chinstrap manufacturer “G Schaus? Gutenburg 4/4?” ( or maybe not? )

The added bonus is that there may be more to come as they clean up ….. exactly what is yet to be discovered – maybe a little, maybe a lot?? The family has not told me the vet’s name yet ( understood as after all, I’m a total stranger to them ) but I have asked for any service information they may find so I can try to work out where this may have been picked up.

It would be great to have the story behind the helmet – but in the meantime, it can stand on its merit!
Cheers, Dan