USMC Helmet

[hftiii]

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd share a couple of photos of my M1 helmet. I purchased it in the early 1970s while visiting junk shops with my dad. Its interesting to think back on it now because I was'nt too excited ....I was looking more for German militaria, which seemed more more sought after at the time.

I don't know a great deal about these but from what I can tell it is a fixed bail type with a Type 3 cover, and it has a Westinghouse liner (I've taken it apart only once to clean off some rust...you can see that over the years [before I purchased it] rust had bled through the cover). Also, it has what I think may be a field repair (black thread) to the strap. Unfortunately, I don't have anymore pictures other than these at the moment, but will try to take some additional shots if anyone's interested. Thanks for looking.

Tom

[rra227]

Looks nice. Rich A. in Pa.

[geelong]

nice helmet. these are sort after now. i believe a set like this is harder to find than a ww2 German helmet now. still cant tell if this is a ww2 cover but has a very good chance you just need to look at the stitching on the flaps of the sand colored side of the cover. most 50s dated cover had the EGA stamp. both sides on the front. and the flap stitching was different. also a date stamp on the flap.
these covers were also still used in the in the Vietnam war.

[hftiii]

Thanks guys. I will take the cover off and look more closely at the stitching and also see if there are any stamps. Any recommendations for good information sites?

T.

[geelong]

saw tooth stitch ww2 ^^^^ or the same but with a extra tread across the points will make it 50s. i would be shore yours will be ww2. now i dont no but there is talk that the covers with slits were first pattern and covers without slits were 2nd pattern but could be other way around no one is 100% on this. the liner you have is ww2 the helmet looks like fixed bale brass "raised bar" buckle will put it as a ww2 shell.

[geelong]

the image on the left is a 1950s made cover i have. and on the right is the ww2 cover i have hope you can see the different in the stiching

[hftiii]

Thanks geelong, great information. I appreciate it.

Tom

[ruddersrangers44]

Bleeding rust through a frogskin cover,just beautiful indeed,and thanks for sharing...................

[hftiii]

Here are some detail pics of my helmet and cover. I decided not to take the cover off this time (I've done it once before to clean the helmet with a little oil) because it is a little salty in places along the rim.

Tom