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IDed US Navy Helmet Grouping


AnDuc49
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Nice grouping that I was able to pick up fairly recently. It had surfaced up at an estate sale alongside two of the veteran's footlockers, but unfortunately the seller did not buy those, opting to instead buy the helmet and a handful of photographs. Thankfully though, he had taken a photo of one of the footlockers which included the veteran's name and service member which made researching him possible.

While I'm currently waiting for his service records, based off a preliminary search, this helmet was worn by Chief Boatswain Mate Louis Hirsch of Brooklyn, NY during WWII. Born approx. in 1895, CBM Hirsh had initially served aboard the USS Oklahoma during the First World War. It would appear that sometime during the inter-war period he had left the Navy, but following the Attack on Pearl Harbor, he re-enlisted in the Navy on the 8th of December 1941 in Kansas City (close to where this grouping was found). He initially served aboard the USS Orizaba, a WWI-era troop transport, but would later it seems be permanently assigned to Navy Air Facility #328 in New York.

 

Helmet itself is an early McCord FB shell with a heat stamp of 63/68A. Not 100% what the make of the liner is, but interesting to note that CBM Hirsch has attached his CPO Cap insignia to the front of the liner. Over time, it has left an imprint on the inside of the shell which shows that this set has been together for sometime. Unfortunately, due to what I assume is bad storage, the set itself is in poor condition. While one half of the shell is in very good condition, the other half is terribly rusted and the liner has suffered a similar fate.

Hopefully in the future once I'm able to acquire his service records, it will shed more light on his service.

Hope you enjoy and if anybody on the forum obtained the vet's footlocker, do let me know as I'd like to keep them together!

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This seems like it'd be a famous landmark/tourist attraction.

I know that the USS Orizaba made a trip down to South America and Brazil while he was serving on-board, so could it have been from then?

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the helmet set looks like a helmet that was removed from a decommissioned ship? judging by the weathering or poor storage conditions, I doubt he brought it home like that, it looks like it spent a lot of time out in the harsh weather environment / ocean air? or maybe it was left out in the barn for many years after he returned from his service.

 

still an interesting find, looks original.

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the helmet set looks like a helmet that was removed from a decommissioned ship? judging by the weathering or poor storage conditions, I doubt he brought it home like that, it looks like it spent a lot of time out in the harsh weather environment / ocean air? or maybe it was left out in the barn for many years after he returned from his service.

 

still an interesting find, looks original.

 

That was my thought as well, that it suffered most of the damage post-war due to poor storage. Here's a photo the seller provided me of the guy's footlocker. The thing already looks pretty beat up, but I'm guessing the helmet might have been stored outside of the locker when why it suffered so much more damage.

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Looks like sugarloaf mountain in Rio de Janeiro

 

Thanks for that ID Cap! Don't think I would've figured it out otherwise.

 

As luck would have, found a WWII photo dated 1944 that shows some sailors in front of Sugarloaf Mountain which looks like it was almost taken at the same angle and even the same spot maybe

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How is the CPO anchor attached to the liner?

 

Hey Sig,

 

I couldn't take a good photo of it as the liner webbing is quite fragile and I was afraid of tearing it up, but to me it looks like it's a screwback type pin, something similar to this

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Hey Sig,

 

I couldn't take a good photo of it as the liner webbing is quite fragile and I was afraid of tearing it up, but to me it looks like it's a screwback type pin, something similar to this

. Odd. Thats a post WW2 style screw back, to mount tombstone stylebacking on the cap.
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