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US WW2 Air Raid Warden / Civil Defense Helmet

Article about: Hey nice People Today i wanna share an item that i´ve got quite cheap (500 pesos =32 USD) at a fleamarket here in Mexico City some weeks ago. An US WW2 Air Raid Warden "Civil Defense&qu

  1. #1

    Default US WW2 Air Raid Warden / Civil Defense Helmet

    Hey nice People

    Today i wanna share an item that i´ve got quite cheap (500 pesos =32 USD) at a fleamarket here in Mexico City some weeks ago.

    An US WW2 Air Raid Warden "Civil Defense" Helmet.


    In fact i did not knew what it was, but i saw it and i knew it was something cool for my collection.
    Later on, doing some research, i found out what i had bought..
    Militaria- addiction at its best, buying things just because they look collectable..

    It has its original white paint, a decal on the front (blue circle with a red/ white striped triangle in it), and a Maker´s mark inside. Liner is complete, and stamped with what seems to be "LA Police". Interesting, as i´d expect it to be an Army Helmet. But apparently it isn´t.

    Unfortunately i did not find much about those helmets neither in this forum or elsewhere.
    But it seems that the decal identifies it as an "Air Raid Warden´s helmet

    So it´s an Civil Defense / Air Raid Warden Helmet from LA/ California...

    What where they fearing? Japanese or german bombers?
    I believe it never saw real action (better so maybe), but it´s still a nice historical piece from more turbulent times..

    Any comments about it, use or whatever, are very welcome as there is little info.


    US WW2 Air Raid Warden /  Civil Defense Helmet

    US WW2 Air Raid Warden /  Civil Defense Helmet

    US WW2 Air Raid Warden /  Civil Defense Helmet

    US WW2 Air Raid Warden /  Civil Defense Helmet

    US WW2 Air Raid Warden /  Civil Defense Helmet

    US WW2 Air Raid Warden /  Civil Defense Helmet

    US WW2 Air Raid Warden /  Civil Defense Helmet

    US WW2 Air Raid Warden /  Civil Defense Helmet

  2. #2

    Default

    By the way, i attached this last picture with all the different US WW2 Civil defense Insignia as i find this Infoi most interesting and it might be helpful to one or another reader of this lonely thread..

  3. #3
    ?

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    From my knowledge this helmet is an American Civil Defense Sun Helmet. It is a variation of the pressed fiber helmet, this one features a World War II era Civil Defense decal.

    The helmet was issued in the 1940s as part of the Office of Civilian Defense. You will note on the great chart posted above by Admin it identifies the various symbols of the Civilian Defense. This Air Raid Warden helmet and all items with symbols from this chart were created as part of the Civilian Defense Program called for by FDR in 1941. Civilian Defense was disbanded after WWII. When the Russians acquired the atomic bomb and once again the concern over attacks on the US emerged, the government created the Civil Defense program of the 1950s that existed during the Cold War and taught us to Duck and Cover and how to build a fallout shelter. This new organization was organized very different from the WWII organization. One easy way to distinguish between items from WWII and items from the Cold War is if they use Civilian Defense or Civil Defense or any of the symbols so related..

    I should mention that I am sure a large quantity of the material used from WWII Civilian Defense was pressed into action when Civil Defense appeared in the early 1950s. My Grandfather used a white Civilian Defense helmet in the 1950s with the Air Raid Warden symbol so it is possible this was used then but it dates to 1940s Civilian Defense program.

    Anyways I hope this helps, and if you would like other information you can check my website at;
    helmetcollectables.com

    William

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