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Vietnam Camo M1 helmet - a few mysteries finally solved


ArchangelDM
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ArchangelDM

So here is a very cool story -

 

I got this helmet from a member here some years ago,

Its a real one looker for me with regards to the camouflage and wear, its filthy and the chinstraps are blackened from dirt. The shell has stress cracks and the liner is worn and sweaty.

 

This set was bought by the original owner for 5 bucks from a Craigslist advert. In fact I think he went there for something else and saw this hanging up, he asked what the man wanted for it and he replied 5 bucks !!

Said his dad had bought it home when he came back from

Vietnam etc.

 

So inside the helmet on the liner sweatband is written D U. BINH

 

Also inside there where 2 strange Camo nets, 1 parachute material and 1 green one with a tight weave.

I thought they where odd being tucked in there but for 5 bucks no one is going to add these in.

 

So I showed the helmet to a couple of members here and no one could work the name out so I did a YouTube video 2 years ago.

 

4 months ago I get an email from a Vietnamese college student who is from Vietnam saying he had seen my

Video and finally found a contact email for me.

 

He and his mother had worked out the name and also had period photos of the Camo cover and the net being worn ! In Vietnam.

 

Well I was pretty taken back as it was always a mystery to me and now I hope this sheds a little more light on the captains last name and the wearing of these types of covers in theatre.

 

Here is his message - a big thank you to Khoi

 

Dean, I think the helmet might have belonged to a captain. At first I showed a photo of the helmet to my dad to get a correct pronunciation of the name. He noticed that the U in D.U. Binh doesnt make sense because no middle names start with U, so therefore it must be a V.

 

So I showed the helmet to my mother and immediately she said thats not a name.

 

Now when I first found your helmet online an area of suspicion for me was how strange it was for the owner to write their surname and middle name in initials then writing out their full first name. If someone writes out their name theyre not gonna abbreviate the surname or first name with how important those are.

 

I then realized along with my mother when she pointed this out that there was only one real answer to why D.U. was abbreviated, its because it stands for Dai Uy (captain).

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ArchangelDM

Nice

 

Owen

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Cheers O

 

Im Really glad the gentleman reached out with this one. Cool to see it in use

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Thankyou Matt for that

 

Only reason I knew that was because in "Platoon", SFC Barnes (Tom Berenger) calls CPT Harris (Dale Dye) 'Dai Uy' in the movie and I had to look it up, sure enough it's just Vietnamese for 'captain'.

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ArchangelDM

Wow, that is really amazing Dean! This hobby is always full of surprises!

Stunning helmet.

Thanks G

Its always full of surprises, ups and downs

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

I have always liked this helmet, nice to finally know what Đ.U. means. The first photo, by Patrice Habans in An Loc in May 1972, does not look the same to me. I am not great with camo but it looks like ERDL to me, rather than parachute frogskin. The other image is new to me and looks very close. Here is a close up of Habans' photo in the the highest resolution available:

 

post-153751-0-15934100-1584474176.jpg

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ArchangelDM

I have always liked this helmet, nice to finally know what Đ.U. means. The first photo, by Patrice Habans in An Loc in May 1972, does not look the same to me. I am not great with camo but it looks like ERDL to me, rather than parachute frogskin. The other image is new to me and looks very close. Here is a close up of Habans' photo in the the highest resolution available:

 

Helmet.jpg

Hey Cap

Thanks for the kind words

I agree with you with regards to the picture you posted in high Rez, although it is in the same configuration with that tight weave net over the top the camo is certainly different.

The other picture I posted i would say is the same parachute silk being used with the same net

 

Thanks for that high rex pic its awesome

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ArchangelDM

Thats hand painted on plain cloth.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And there you have it

 

Thanks O

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The patch on the left arm of the hand painted guy is a school parch maybe phy opp school etc but hard to correctly determine as it’s out of focus.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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FT.Monmouth1943

Thank you Khoi for these amazing pics

Top one is definitely an ERDL cover. Heres a pic of one just like it. The patch hes wearing is for one of the Political Warfare units. Nice helmet!

 

- Jakob

 

post-134998-0-22523400-1584588488.jpeg

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

The patch on the left arm of the hand painted guy is a school parch maybe phy opp school etc but hard to correctly determine as it’s out of focus.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

post-153751-0-22385300-1584589543.jpg

I believe Political Warfare Social Services directorate cực xã hội.

 

You are the kammo man but it really looks like ERDL to me rather than hand painted, very crisp fine edges for haid paint,ed and while the center is only light and dark green, at the top and front I see black and brown, if hand painted it was done by quite the artist.

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

Looking at it more, that is the perfect picture FT.Monmouth1943, the exact same light green shapes can be seen, no doubt in my mind now it is ERDL.

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