WW2 or Vietnam era?

[Caseydiggz]

Hi, I bought a whole crate of assorted vietnam and korean war uniforms at a local estate sale a little while back and they didn't know a helmet was at the bottom of the crate. Well it is a FRONT SEAM helmet, which from what i've heard is a sure sign that it is ww2. But there is a problem: Everything else about it screams "Vietnam". The unusually dark vietnam era paint, the liner was dated 67, the vietnam patern camo cover,and it has swivel bale loops. and like i said "it was in a crate with vietnam stuff."


Thoughts?

this isnt my helmet but it gives you a visual of the paint color and texture

http://warrelics.eu/forum/attachment...1&d=1245724146

[Ty Revelo]

I'm not surprised by a ww2 helmet stuffed with a vietnam liner and cover. After the wars alot of people didn't know the difference between any of the war shells since they look almost identical except for all the suttle changes that occurred during the m-1 tenure and stuffed into a liner of the wrong era.

Long ago in the early 80's i bought one the same way. I still have that helmet today and am completely happy as the vietnam shell i much more easier to obtain. To totally be sure of the era i would ask a close up of the helmet chinstrap bales and the buckles to the chinstrap but typically you are correct that a front seam is a ww2 issue. Dark paint was also used in the late war but is not typical of an early war issue front seam. It could possibly be mid war or a re-issue.

Nice pick up!

rgds, Tyrone

[SteveR]

There were a lot of refurb helmets used in Vietnam.
None of us knew the difference and didn't care.

[NickD]

yes front seemed swivel bailed helmets are late WW2 issue but you'll also find allot of them where reissued in the early stages of Vietnam as well but generally they would still have the same type liner as well. i too would like to see the helmet as a whole chinstrap, liner & cover.

WW2 US lids were also a dark OD green with shredded cork to give it its rough texture to help reduce shine.

[Caseydiggz]

Here are some pics of the helmet, but there was no chinstrap

[NickD]

to be honest this could have been used both in WW2 & the Vietnam conflict as this was a very common thing to happen shame the chin strap is missing.

[Nige H]

Yep reissued mid to late WWII shell, as the late WWII (end of 44 onwards) have the seam at the rear, as do all subsequent M1 production. The texture also appears to be the original cork finish, as opposed to the post WWII helmets had and a sand textured finish to the outer surface.


Nige.

[battle gear]

the liner is the last model 1973 and later, notice it has the removable type webbing.

the cover also dates from around 1974 - 79

non reversable woodland pattern post VN era

the whole set is worth around $20 - $25

it probably had the clip on late model chin strap that just slips over the loops and has a snap button to secure the chin cup.

this helmet was probably last used into the late 1970's or early 80's

[Nige H]

Re-issuing of old stock WWII M1 helmet shells was quite common, a wholesaler here in the U.K. that I deal with has several thousand ex- government stock M1's, these were bought up during the late 1980's when the M1 was phrased out and replaced with the "Fritz" helmet. These all had late Vietnam covers, straps and liners, but quite a large percentage were WWII shells which had been stripped repaint in the lighter Lime olive green shade, and then covered with sand on the outer surface. Most probably these helemts came from units of national guard, as opposed to front line issue. Unfortunately for me though, by the time I got to look through his stock, at his warehouse Mr Spielberg had beaten me to the prized front seam models , as they had been all bought up for use in "Saving private Ryan" apparently some poor guy from the production team, had the thankless task of going thorough every shell in the warehouse to try and find all the wartime ones. Apparently this guy was there nearly two weeks, I bet after that he'd never want to touch another M1 helmet ever again.


Nige.

[NickD]

no wonder its getting hard to find front seemed US M1's these days