Early Named Fixed Loop - 499th Coastal Artillery Battalion

[anton67]

Here is the helmet of Rowland Michael Hoke, 449th Coastal Artillery Battalion.
It is a FS FB McCord heat lot number 108C which puts manufacture approx April 1942.
The liner is an early Firestone.
The helmet and liner are clearly marked with his number 0304 and the name HOKE is on the head band.

Here is more info on the 499th:

http://wwii-enlistme...ecord/20330304/

Further research found that he was in the 499th CA BN and later transferred to the 589th AAA after his unit was disbanded.

Some info I found about the 499th CA

The German submarine attacks on Aruba and Curacao by Gruppe Neuland, while the first of many attacks on allied shipping in the Caribbean Sea, were not the only attempts by the German navy to put the refineries out of business. On April 19, 1942, at 0215, U-130 surfaced off the Bullen Baai tank farm on Curaçao and fired five 8.8 cm shells at the petroleum storage facility. It scored no hits on the oil tanks but did wake up the Dutch colonial artillery battery which managed to get off one 120 mm round before the U-boat submerged. On August 18, 1942, the Germans returned and again attacked. This time the target was a tanker entering the Shottegat. The 37 mm weapons of the 499th C.A. (AA) Bn. were now doing dual duty as both anti-motor torpedo boat and antiaircraft batteries. The 37 mm guns at Fort Amsterdam next to the entrance to the Shottegat fired a number of rounds at an unidentified submarine some 2,800 yards off shore. Both torpedoes that were fired missed the tanker and struck the reef. The damage done by the German submarine was slight, but the potential for disaster was very real. The U-boat attacks in the Southern Caribbean increased the urgency for establishing strong defenses for the two islands. Increasing the number of ground forces on Aruba and Curaçao was considered, but turned down, however, by the Trinidad Sector.(25)

http://www.lago-colo...ERY COMMAND.htm


also:
https://secure.finda...r&GRid=25102444