Who can tell me about the yellow cross on this helmet??

[Irish1965]

Hi guys,

My son bought a M1 US helmet with winter camo out of Germany. It's got a yellow cross on the front. I have no idea what it means. Medic or chaplain. Not the 33th Infantery Division. They served in the Pacific and didn't see action in Korea, at least as far as I know. Does anyone know this yellow cross? I looks like it's painted over the rust, but why?

Check out the pictures.











Thx for watching Paul

[Twthmoses]

Could you post a few pictures of any marks / stamp from inside the shell, and of the bales and chinstrap? Would help to identify nation, and thus use.

[Sleepwalker]

Hi there,

because of the rivets in the chin strap, I think this is a Dutch M1953 helmet. A M1 Euro-Klone.

Do you have pictures of the inner helmet and stamps on the helmet shell?

Regards

[Tank Destroyer]

Not chaplain.

Marty

[Irish1965]

Hi Sleepwalker. The liner is indeed post-war. The steel helmet is WW2.

[Sleepwalker]

The chin straps with the rivet are post-war too... and not US

[Twthmoses]

Rivets on chinstraps at the bale doesn’t exclude ww2 usages. Rare yes, but there are ww2 images of rivet on chinstrap from ww2. Might have been field repaired tho.
However some euro countries, Denmark comes to mind, did apply ww2 made chinstraps to helmets postwar (late 40s to early 50s) with rivets Instead of sewing them, when that for whatever reason needed replacements.
All this is not to be confused with mid 50s rivets chinstraps that has all sewing replaced by rivets (4 in all). Couple of variants exists.
This can very well be a ww2 shell, with postwar applied actual ww2 chinstraps. Either way pictures of the inside, rim, marks, bales and chinstrap will make it much easier to determine use, age and nation.

[Sleepwalker]

As far as can be seen, I took another look at the individual parts of the chin strap.

The way the chin strap was turned over and riveted can also correspond to a French, Dutch or Danish repair or replacement. The chin straps have the late OD7 color and are relatively fresh in color.

The J-Hook corresponds to the model from July 1944.
However, there is no release ball.

The upper end of the T-1 buckle is quite pointed. I only know from European pieces / replacement chin straps. In that case, I know a lot of French pieces with such a buckle.

The crucial parts were somehow left out in the pictures ...
Are there any pictures of liner?

greetings

[Irish1965]

At your request I made some extra photo's from the chinstrap. The helmet came with no liner. There no ball. The helmet was bought from a Greek dealer.

Cheers Paul

thx for the comments sofar!!

[Twthmoses]

Thx for the images.
The chinstrap Looks like Danish or Argentina, I know both of them did this rivet thing instead of sewing in the early 50s, on spare actual ww2 chinstrap - one got to wonder how many spare chinstrap was actual produced during ww2?
The inside of the helmet looks gray? Not green, this could be a Danish civil defence helmet. Is the helmet magnetic? If so, judging by the bale type, it should have a serial number stamped on the rim. If not magnetic there should be a heat&lift (lot number) inside it- look very closely even under the bales where parish stamped their numbers- as it should be a us m1 helmet. For the first 5-7 years the Danish m/48 is only ww2 us m1 helmet.
As for white, the ordenskorps - the corps of the civil defence that helped police, had white helmets, tho never seen a yellow cross on any?
Very interesting helmet, more pictures from the inside please.