Vietnam helmet - "Dr. Death", and "Goodbye Charlie", "We Try Harder" buttons

3,620 · April 3, 2016

This just came out of an old estate my friend has been charged with liquidating, sadly no story or anything with it other than it is what it is, and strangely all of the liner straps were removed. I tried pulling the liner out, but the liner has been in there so long that the rust spots from the liner rivets were kind of holding all in place, so I just left it as is. I like how they used a bedroll tie as the camo band too. It's got character!

.

14,892 · April 3, 2016

I'd suspect the button was not worn in the field. It would make a great aiming point.

1,186 · April 3, 2016

Yeah and neither the graffiti, probably added post war or by the seller to add some more "character"

3,620 · April 3, 2016

While I understand the skepticism, and I agree the button would not be a great idea in combat.

The ink is old and faded, and I believe completely original. IMO anyone faking the helmet would have replaced the liner as it is a value detractor, but so "stuck" to the liner it would not come out with out possibly damaging the cover.

This came directly to me out of the house of what may have been the original owner, I am looking more into that as I have been told there were 1000s of photos. He was a crazy hoarder bachelor type, but other than guns he had no other military bits that have surfaced yet. I will try and post some close ups of the ink.

3,620 · April 3, 2016

Here are a few closeups of the ink. This is older ink.

Looking at it in the light of day I can see that the spade was drown over another word or name "Suzanne" ???

Adding more credibility to the artwork IMO.

14,892 · April 3, 2016

Apparently Suzanne fell out of favor.

Just to be clear, I was not questioning the authenticity of this. I just think the button was a later add on. It would interesting to see if it shows up in any of the photos.

4,501 · April 3, 2016

Apparently Suzanne fell out of favor.

Just to be clear, I was not questioning the authenticity of this. I just think the button was a later add on. It would interesting to see if it shows up in any of the photos.

the owner may have been ordered to cover it and he chose a not so ugly way to do so. I have one where that was the case however the owner just covered the name with a big black rectangle...

1,186 · April 3, 2016

Buttons were placed on helmets for sure during the war, but I'm not sure if the button was applied during or after the war, but I would lean towards after as it looks like a big target.

Here's a picture of it being done though

4,501 · April 3, 2016

again it could have been worn as this doesnt appear to be combat worn

1,687 · April 3, 2016

Looks like the foilage strap is a Marine Corps shelter half strap. Veryy cool helmet.

Bob

5,764 · April 3, 2016

This soldier or Marine? has a Avis car rentals button on his helmet, notice his "cookie duster" mustache.

"We try harder" was a hugely successful 1960s ad campaign by Avis Rent-A-Car, the perennial "number 2" in the car rental business. The popular motto was soon printed on complimentary pins distributed at Avis locations. Troops in Vietnam loved the slogan for its "rooting for the underdog" flavor, and many adopted it as their own, wearing the classic "We try harder" pins on their M-1 helmet covers.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Army-USMC-Marine-Vietnam-AVIS-WE-TRY-HARDER-ADVERTISING-PIN-Vtg-Button-/301915433282?hash=item464b8fe942:g:Wz4AAOSwhcJWQm52

14,892 · April 4, 2016

Buttons were placed on helmets for sure during the war, but I'm not sure if the button was applied during or after the war, but I would lean towards after as it looks like a big target.

Here's a picture of it being done though

How appropriate Bolo's post is. The photo of the two Marines with the machine gun appears to show the subdued version of the We Try Harder button.

There was an ad that came out from Avis that stated the firm had seen pictures of GI's wearing the standard white buttons on their fatigue uniforms, but that they stood out way to conspicuously. So the company came out with subdued versions and shipped them off to Vietnam.

While photos exist of them, as well as the ad copy, I have yet to find a surviving example. These were made of very thin tin and not designed to last forever.

This was one of the most successful ad campaigns ever, and was a counterpoint to the fact that Hertz was the number one car rental company in the country at the time. It put a positive spin on being the underdog and brought Avis a lot of business.

30,319 · April 4, 2016

Here's another We Try Harder button in use.

Major John Frazee, 9th Avn Bn, 9th Inf Div, Dong Tam, July 1969.

30,319 · November 27, 2017

Allow me to add this find, a period Ad for the Avis button, the exact same button we see now come to think of it worn by Maj Frazee in the above post.

3,790 · November 27, 2017

Very cool! I've never seen a camouflage one! I'll post some more pictures of them in use later.

3,889 · November 27, 2017

that is a great piece of advertising...love the old magazines

12,134 · December 1, 2017

Show pictures of Crazy hoarder !!!

12,134 · December 1, 2017

Allow me to add this find, a period Ad for the Avis button, the exact same button we see now come to think of it worn by Maj Frazee in the above post.

phpc5C1oCPM.jpg

I would love to own one of these and in fact NEVER seen one.

owen

3,790 · December 1, 2017

Sorry I can't post pictures, the computer I had them on had the hard drive break, the pictures were stored on another hard drive which should hopefully be okay, but I can't boot the computer right now.

30,319 · December 2, 2017

Sorry I can't post pictures, the computer I had them on had the hard drive break, the pictures were stored on another hard drive which should hopefully be okay, but I can't boot the computer right now.

Good luck!

3,790 · December 10, 2017

Computers fixed, here they are, I think I have a few more but they are not sorted out, have about 3K photos of vietnam in 1 folder, takes about an hour to find anything in it, I need to sort it into sub folders.

3,790 · February 9, 2018

A color version of this was already posted where the button was yellow, but in blank and white it really looks camo?

3,790 · March 3, 2018

John Mullan C 1/5 1st marine Division. 1967

from here: http://1-5vietnamveterans.org/Photos/Nam_Photos_1967-68.htm

12,134 · June 1, 2022

Here’s an extraordinary helmet and pin

enjoy

owen

18,498 · June 1, 2022

We try harder

Vietnam helmet - "Dr. Death", and "Goodbye Charlie", "We Try Harder" buttons

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