Great-grandfathers helmet

[Wally6]

This here is the M1 helmet My Great-grandfather was wearing when he was awarded his first purple heart.
The story of it is recorded in the book "Shavetail" which was written by his platoon commander William Devitt in 2017
As the story go's the squad my G-grandfather was in charge of during the Normandy break out was too scared of German-small arms fire and refused to go over the hedgerows. in an attempt to get them moving he said "Come on if we don't get moving we're never going to get out of here. It's not so bad see" and slowly started to peek over one of the hedges when suddenly a shot rang out and he fell back escaping with a scrape on his ear. Unknown what was said afterwards but its safe to say they probably refused to move after that.

[Wally6]

A few days later he wrote back home
"... You're going to see that they gave me the purple heart, don't be worried though the army will give you one just for getting a scratch"
He continued to wear this helmet throughout the rest of the war as "proof that I was here and that I fought"

[WTolleson1940]

Wow amazing story, I'm jealous that you have such a important piece of family history. I am sure you will cherish that forever.

Calloway

[huntssurplus]

Now that is awesome! Probably one of the best stories ever to go along with a helmet! Thanks for sharing!

Hunt

[BlackCat1982]

A very tangible and dramatic souvenir from an old warrior. You owe your life to him and we owe our freedom for his service. Thanks for posting.

[caterpillar]

Center piece/museum quality piece you have .. wow

[MAP]

Wow. Not much to say.

Half an inch and the story would be much different.

[LoyalHistorian]

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Thank you for sharing his story and the picture of his helmet. I also appreciated seeing his uniform in the other post. Thanks!

-Robyn