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Striped Navy Helmets


dustin
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There has been multiple topics posted about presumably US Navy helmets having painted stripes in various colors from brim to back. I think it has been illustrated that there is no one confirmed definite purpose of the application. With that said I came across this image of Ordnance men aboard the USS Kasaan Bay, August 1944. Three are wearing helmet liners with such a stripe from brim to back, I assume it is the color red since they are working with ordnance.

post-56-0-89978500-1495158361_thumb.jpg

 

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Burning Hazard

I believe Naval beach battalions had striped helmets with different colors based on the beaches they landed; our forum member stealthytyler will have better knowledge than me so he'll be quick to chime in.

 

Still a nice photo though.

 

Pat

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stealthytyler

I have seen striped helmets before that have nothing to do with beach battalions. These sailors obviously are not beach battalion. I would assume the stripe indicates their job. My avatar photo is the only known 4th BB helmet. I have no other to compare to. The army also used striped helmets for leadership and training. Nice photo, I've never seen this before. Thanks for sharing.

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I have seen striped helmets before that have nothing to do with beach battalions. These sailors obviously are not beach battalion. I would assume the stripe indicates their job. My avatar photo is the only known 4th BB helmet. I have no other to compare to. The army also used striped helmets for leadership and training. Nice photo, I've never seen this before. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

That is precisely my point in posting the image in that I was illustrating another application of the use of color coding stripes on helmets. A vintage image like this helps cement the diveristy, its unimpeachable.

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pararaftanr2

Dustin,

Great photo! This additional information, just to add a little background. WW2 carrier deck crew fire fighters wore red, as did ordnancemen.

To distinguish between the two, a black stripe was added to the helmets (both cloth and steel) of the ordnancemen. Photos of each below, and an example of a cloth ordnanceman's helmet from my collection.

Regards, Paul

 

post-9787-0-59634800-1495213440_thumb.jpg

post-9787-0-80336400-1495213471.jpg

post-9787-0-92709900-1495213500.jpg

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pararaftanr2

With the location of Dustin's photo being aboard CVE 69 USS Kasaan Bay in August 1944, that would mean these men are loading bombs on the F6F-5 Hellcats of VF-74, during Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France.

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  • 6 years later...
ThibautC63

Hello everyone, 

I've been interested in the VF-74 for several years and didn't know about this photo taken on the deck of the USS Kasaan-Bay. Is it possible to know the original source of this photo ? US Nara maybe ? 
Thank you in advance. 

 

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jerry_k

Probably a US NAVY official photograph. If it is from Dustin I bet he had it from National Archives.

 

Thanks,

Jerry

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ThibautC63
9 minutes ago, jerry_k said:

Probablement une photographie officielle de l'US NAVY. Si c'est de Dustin, je parie qu'il l'a eu des Archives nationales.

 

Merci,

Jerry

Ok great ;) ! If others pictures off deck of USS Kasaan-Bay exist, i'm very interesting ! 

Thanks

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General Apathy
On 5/19/2017 at 3:46 AM, dustin said:

There has been multiple topics posted about presumably US Navy helmets having painted stripes in various colors from brim to back. I think it has been illustrated that there is no one confirmed definite purpose of the application. With that said I came across this image of Ordnance men aboard the USS Kasaan Bay, August 1944. Three are wearing helmet liners with such a stripe from brim to back, I assume it is the color red since they are working with ordnance.

post-56-0-89978500-1495158361_thumb.jpg

 

.

Hi Dustin,

 

pleased to see you have started a topic on USN striped helmets,  I captured this screen shots a couple of weeks ago as it interested me , obviously there was no dialogue on the video about the markings. but hope you enjoy the shot.

 

fullsizeoutput_21864.jpeg.0678526996aa9a8015e164b958d55a00.jpeg

 

regards lewis.

 

...

 

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