Postwar lieutenant M1 dug up at Fort Campbell

[ClaptonIsGod]

I always love a good relic helmet, especially after seeing all of the recovered/washed up examples in Normandy museums last month. Came across this helmet on eBay and decided to make an offer of $20 because it looked like a cool display item and I thought I saw a rayon rectangular washer in the liner. Seller says it was dug up in the back 40, whatever that means, in the maneuver fields.

 

Arrived today and I opened it up, and to my slight disappointment, the liner is a postwar Firestone. I cleaned just the stamp in the crown to reveal a 62 above it and a 101 below it, in postwar nomenclature does that make it a 1962? No insignia hole.

 

The train left the station a while ago on any kind of heat stamp in the shell, but given the fact that the bails are still in perfect condition with no chinstraps, that makes me think it had sewn-on chinstraps rot away and therefore would likely be a rear-seam Schlueter. The real surprise is that it has a mostly intact first lieutenant bar on the front, which was neither mentioned in the description nor visible in any of the photos. Interestingly, while probably completely random, paint loss over the bar looks like corporal chevrons.

 

Anyway, I just think this is a neat relic helmet in spite of the fact that it is known not to have come from a battlefield. Wonder how it wound up there and why it was abandoned, what its story is, and whether the damage to the liner might have led to its winding up in the ground. My guess on when it went in the soil is early 1960s, but appreciate any and all feedback and thoughts.

 

[king802]

The 62 is just the mold number of the press that made the liner and nothing to do with a date.

 

Rich

[Ronnie]

An official Lt. Corporal or Corporal Lt.

Ronnie

[BILL THE PATCH]

Back 40 means his back lot, his land. 40=acres, Maybe some kid lost it while playing and couldn't find it.

 

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[ClaptonIsGod]

Back 40 means his back lot, his land. 40=acres, Maybe some kid lost it while playing and couldn't find it.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Perhaps, although he said in the description he found it on the base in the maneuvers area. Some googling seems to indicate to me that the back 40 is a name for a section of Fort Campbell, which is still on the installation but apparently not in active use. See this post from 10 years ago on another forum of someone posting pictures of roads, stairs and abandoned bunkers in the back 40: https://www.ranger-forums.com/snapshots-69/couple-pics-back-40-ft-campbell-93923/ Have sent a message to the seller asking for more info on where/how he found it, but I would assume it was lost on some kind of field exercise back there.

 

[ludwigh1980]

You find all kinds of old military junk on military reservations. From wrecked APC's to tanks to aircraft wreckage. Some were firing ranges that were left alone and the "jungle" swallowed them up. Ft. Benning has all kind of lost or abandoned military junk and many soldiers loose gear during training. Never found a personal weapon as "hands across America" takes care of that. Every "lost" weapon is found on a military base.

[gomorgan]

I know somewhere in Germany there's a Sgt. Majors M-1 helmet, he was constantly on everyone's butt to wear them all the time, and just happened to walk by his jeep in the woods one day and there was his helmet. I guess he was right you've got to wear them all the time or someone will steal it, or worse yet throw it down a ravine. If I recall it was raining that day.