Hello everybody, my name is Micheal, i have just acquired two US helmets from my dad's estate. i am no historian so i don't know anything about them. i was hoping that some of you might know what they are worth. my dad has been collection WWII stuff since he was a boy when the war ended. he had a massive collection that was divided between my two brothers and i. my dad's mother ran a boarding house in New York in the 40's and had a lot of vets passing through at the end of the war, my dad told me about how he would do chores for vets in exchange for war souvenirs. his whole attic was full of German and US helmets, uniforms, pieces of insignia, weapons etc. the name 'Davis' is written inside. The second helmet: if you have any info on these helmets, please send me an e-mail at mwisemark@yahoo.com.
Nice items. I don't know what American helmets are going for these days but, they are not cheap. I'd also be interested in seiing pics of your German stuff. I can better help you there. Best regards-C.
Hello and welcome to the forum, mwisemark. I too would also love to see some of your German items, especially the helmets. As for the US helmets, do they have any markings stamped on the inside front of the shell? This would indicate the manufacturer.
Hello all! thank you for your replies. the helmet with the clovers on the side doesnt have a liner or chinstraps, and i can't seem to find any markings on the other one. I'll keep looking and ill e-mail my brothers to see if they can send me some pics of the German stuff, I only took these two helmets. My oldest brother was really excited to get his collection so I let him have most of it. Can anybody tell me what the paint on the helmets mean if anything? Are they unit logos? cheers! Micheal.
The steel shell manufacturer marks usually consist of a combination of letters and numbers, these can be found stamped in to the metal on the inside, just above the peak (where your forehead would be).
Oh okay, i was looking in the wrong place. The helmet with the yellow stripe on the back has 900A stamped into it and I think the other one is 121C.
The clover leaf on the side is a unit recognition marking. This most likely is associated with either the 4th or 88th division both have variants of clovers in their unit insignia. Of course, this does not preclude some other unit using it locally. The yellow stripe on the back is a "guide bar" to allow soldiers following the wearer of this helment to more easily see him and guide on him in low light conditions or at night when advancing in a column. The dot on the side is very likely a company or battalion mark associated with the clover showing the particular company or battalion the wearer was in.
4th or 88th division? Great! Thank you so much! Do you know what they might be worth? Cheers! Micheal
For the drop into Normandy in 1944, the 101st Airborne Division painted a variety of symbols on the sides of its helmets to identify its units - the cloverleaf was for the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, and the dot to the right of the symbol signified the 1st battalion of the 327th. A vertical stripe painted on the back of the helmet identified the wearer as an officer, though the stripe was usually white (a horizontal stripe was for an NCO).
Oh wow..I'm familiar with the 101st(only from saving private ryan) but I had no idea that this helmet was related to the unit. This is all very interesting, thank you all for the information. Is there any way to get some info on what I assume to be the original wearer of the helmet, 'Davis'?
Any questions about the 101st Airborne need to be directed to Mark Bando. He's the leading researcher on them. I've been down in his basement a couple of times, and it's great! He's got a lot of stuff down there. I'm not sure what the URL is, but google "Trigger Time" and something will come up about the 101st. For what it's worth, that was my first thought when I saw that helmet.
The markings on both helmets would indicate that they were produced by the McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company, Detroit, Michigan, who produced around 20,000,000 helmets! The markings are not serial numbers but rather heat temperature stamps which were used to track helmets during production should a defect arise. As for the stripe on the back of one of the helmets, i think that this would have been white originally and has yellowed with age.
I don't think so, it's a very yellow stripe, I asked a friend of mine that was in the navy seals about it and he thinks it could be from a 2nd lieutenant? I came across Mark Bando's website when I was doing some research on the two helmets, I already sent him an e-mail. He has an awesome website! Absolutely amazing stuff. It almost makes me want to start collecting
I'm with the Kruse WWII Victory Museum in Auburn,Indiana and if you'd like to show the world any of your war artifacts we'd be interested. We do take items on loan or you can also donate them. Our website is World War II Victory Museum Whatever you decide to do,I hope you don't put them on ebay. Nothing against Ebay because I've bought alot of stuff from there, I just think that WWII or any war artifacts ought to be displayed in a museum somewhere so people can learn the history. The World War II Victory Museum was established in 1999 through the generosity of its founders, Dean and Kristin Kruse, and their sons, Dima and Devin, of Auburn, IN. The World War II Victory Museum contains one of the world’s most impressive collections of artifacts from the Second World War. The collection includes approximately 150 vehicles and hundreds of uniforms, weapons and smaller artifacts. The majority of this collection comes from the former Victory Memorial Museum that was located in Messancy, Belgium. Due to the Victory Memorial Museum’s location (It was located in the Ardennes Forest region, approximately 30 miles from Bastogne, and was near areas where heavy fighting occurred during the Battle of the Bulge.) many of the pieces that are now in the collection of the World War II Victory Museum are survivors of the Battle of the Bulge. The collection was transported from the Belgian facility of the Victory Memorial Museum to its current home in Auburn, IN during the months of October 2001 until January 2002. This impressive collection of artifacts includes many rare and, sometimes, the only known surviving examples of certain pieces. By obtaining such an outstanding collection of artifacts, the World War II Victory Museum has a solid base upon which to build. The museum celebrated its “Grand Opening” in May 2003. However, much planning, fundraising, investment, and hard work remain to be accomplished before the museum nears the realization of its long-term goals.
