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I recently acquired this M1917A1 helmet. It started life as a British MkI helmet that was supplied to the AEF. It was manufactured by Thomas Firth and Sons. The chinstrap is marked H.M. 103 CAC (AA) S. (I think, it's hard to read) I believe this is a Coast Artillery Corps unit, but I can't find a unit with this designation. Painted boldly on the front is a large N.Y. The helmet came from an Antique Seller on Long Island, NY. I know there were multiple CAC units stationed there before and during WWII. I was wondering if anyone has any information on this particular unit? If anyone could help me out, that would be greatly appreciated.

The gauntlets are the 1886 pattern and are quartermaster marked. Soldier’s name are in the gloves. I will post pictures. Robert

Incredible ID'd piece of history! Quality photos as well!

Very cool. I plan to make a lamp out of an artillery shell and an M1 helmet (both from WW2).

Love these New Service revolvers. I have a M1909 and a M1917, and shoot them once every couple of years with light loads.

I think you go on better vacations than I do, I end up at beaches and resorts and mountains, and none of them have surplus stores or flea markets. You got some nice examples of the fuels ration booklets, my kind of stuff. Cheers Armygas

Haha, indeed it is. It was a Christmas gift many years ago from my mother, and I believe it’s a British “turtle” helmet, though I never saw any stamps inside the shell

Believe it or not, I e never seen “F Troop” haha. Thanks for the kind words, and I’ll definitely be posting more here in the near future. I do have two posts about Indian war haversacks and mess kits already in that section if you haven’t seen them. I think my next post will be about my 1872 campaign hat, perhaps. That’s probably the rarest item I own.

Welcome to the forum! Quite the collection you have there. Not sure, but is that lampshade made out of a helmet?

Some very nice specimens and well displayed. My knowledge of the Indian wars period extends as far as 'F' Troop enlightened me about six decades ago. However I can appreciate the artifacts and the incorporation of the Rec room furnishings for a quite comfortable area for study and relaxation. Again well done, I would be delighted to see more on this subject that I am rather short on. Cheers, Armygas

Sorry, #46 is your blade, 1834 with a nail in it. For #60 I don't have a pic of the date, just a repeat of the description. It was on one of the Liveauctioneer auctions, I didn't record the auction house or the date. The National Lancers-marked sabers are as you described with the MS marking on the quillon replaced with the rack number. Scabbard #42 has saber #16. Not sure what you mean by no inspector marks, #5 has an 1835 Dragoons-marked blade and has no federal inspection marks.

I never knew that, and that would explain your expertise! Thank you for your service! I guess I never thought of how many patches would be floating around and how many guys would be in such a unit. Yeah you hear rare a lot, and I admit I use it often. It seems generalized that anything that is remotely hard to find is automatically rare, but uncommon might be a better word. Yup, I'd love to have many things, but I won't have them all!

So I’ve posted before(mostly in the Indian wars section) but I do have U.S. militaria going up through Vietnam also. I plan on getting active in all areas of this forum, but Indian wars is definitely my biggest and favorite playground. Anyway, here’s some selected pics of my collection. There is some non U.S. militaria mixed in some of the images, so sorry about that lol

Thanks for the replies. Most of my collection is from the early 1880s to the mid-1880s. Here are more details. Robert

Considering a USAF maintenance unit can have between 100-500 assigned, most of these show up. But other things factor in of course. Sometimes they may only do one run, change the design, or whatever. I did 26 years in USAF fighter maintenance, and it was typical to get 4-5 sets of patches when you in-processed a new unit. Rare may be the most over-used word in collecting. I prefer hard to find. I save rare for unique items like named patches and such where few real ones exist. But that's just my take. It's been my experience when I don't get something that eventually another shows up down the road. You can never have them all anyway!😀 Randy

And of course, I only collect bayonets, Fal furniture, and a few other approved parts since I'm still in The People's Union of Illinois. 😑

Hey guys, when were these trousers issued? Would they have been worn on D-Day?

I'm sure this has been posted before but, Lee Marvin's wiki could be the script of a Netflix movie all by itself. Great topic!!!

Plus, there's a very, very good retired woodworker named Dean on the Falfiles that I've dealt with a number of times. From MI, iirc. He does beautiful work and uses correct wood. I believe it's usually European Walnut on the Fal furniture. I could loan him a set of original grips when i get a set & an SA or RIA bayonet for awhile and see if he'd be interested. He makes different jigs and puts out really great stuff. My grandad was a retired carpenter who taught me a lot, and we did a lot of projects together, but mine would be done by hand, where his would be done quicker and very nice.

Thanks for the info. Christian T. Christensen. Any idea of the age.. Is it pre WWII. Maybe WWI? RR

He truly looks like a soldier's soldier...a literal superman.

Awesome! Thank you Gear Fanatic!

Green, white, blue for 29th even, occasionally you’ll see black, usually machine stitched, but sometimes you see uniforms with nice hand stitched patterns.

Long before the quilted patches above are the quilted patches from the CBI (China Burma India) theater during World War II. Below are a few. 491st Bomb Squadron 391st Bomb Group 14th AAF 51st Fighter Group 10th & 14th AAF 375th Bomb Squadron 308th Bomb Group 14th AAF

I believe the blue patch was a swim patch for the installation's officer club's swimming pool. It appeared in a past ASMIC's Trading Post.