Named WWII M1

[Nickman983]

Just recently picked this named mid war M1 so I figured I would share some pictures. The helmet is marked with the soldier's last name and firsts/middle initials on the shell as well as on the sweatband. I believe that it is named to either "Smith, CA" or "Smith, GA". The shell itself is a fixed bail with a lot number of 544D. In addition to having the soldier's name painted on the helmet, there is also residue from some sort of adhesive that was used to mark MP on the helmet. I'm assuming this was done at some point after the war by some kid but I would like to hear what others think. The liner is a Westinghouse and is in fairly good condition other than the cracking on the sweatband and the missing chinstrap.

 

I realize that the chances of actually being able to ID the soldier this helmet belonged to are slim, but if anyone has suggestions on research sources I would greatly appreciate it.

 

I have also uploaded the full size images to imgur in case anyone would like to view them: https://imgur.com/a/njzFD

[Nickman983]

more pictures

[Nickman983]

more pictures

[Nickman983]

more pictures

[Nickman983]

more pictures

[huntssurplus]

Great helmet! I love the ones that have the name stenciled on front. Thanks for sharing!

Hunt

[thecandyman0838]

I recently picked up a helmet very similar to your helmet. It is named in the same manner(Same stamp size and font). My helmet belonged to a man in the navy, so I'm assuming yours is a navy helmet as well if the MP marking is not original.

[Nickman983]

I recently picked up a helmet very similar to your helmet. It is named in the same manner(Same stamp size and font). My helmet belonged to a man in the navy, so I'm assuming yours is a navy helmet as well if the MP marking is not original.

 

Thanks for the info, I suspected it was a navy helmet due to the way it is named but I wasn't sure when I purchased it.

[stealthytyler]

It’s either navy or usmc. If MP mark is period, it could be USMC

[Nickman983]

It’s either navy or usmc. If MP mark is period, it could be USMC

 

Thanks for the info Tyler! Any thoughts on the MP mark?

[stealthytyler]

I am not sure. Looks like some sort of adhesive. The name is very generic so it may be hard to narrow down the vet.

[Nickman983]

It does look like it is some sort of adhesive, which is why I suggested it may have been added by someones kid after the war. Looks like it's been on the helmet for a while though. I also don't really have high hopes of being able to match this helmet to a vet but if I'm going to try to at least narrow it down to a few possibilities if I can.

[Nickman983]

I know this is a fairly old thread but I was playing around with my UV flashlight, testing out using it to aid in matching rust staining on lids/liners and ended up finding the remnants of MP markings on the liner of this one as well. As with the lid they seem to be some sort of adhesive.

 

Would be curious in hearing what others think if this is just left overs from kids play or what. I'm wondering if maybe it once had paper decals, like early post WWII decals, though I'm not familiar enough with MP helmets to know if this was something that was done.

 

As a side note, this goes to show the value of a good dedicated UV light. I had been using the one that were built into a few of my hand held magnification tools and tried them out on this liner as well. While those lights do actually emit UV neither of them actually picked up anything on the liner.

 

[Nickman983]

And since I had the liner out and the net I normally display on it off, I figured I'd go ahead and add some decent photos to the thread for posterity as I was taking them for my own sake already.