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Sutherland Brothers


Captain Woody
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Captain Woody

Ok, seeing as I'm relatively new to the hobby, there's a lot about it I have to learn.

In the world of M1 Helmet collecting, I've heard a lot about the legendary Sutherland Brothers. Now, I only know the basics about them. I know they were known for plundering a well know M1 helmet dump in Utah, and recently (and sadly) one of them passed away. I would just like any info you guys have to offer because there's almost no trace of them on the internet. I know the one brother has an eBay account and every so often sells a helmet or two. But that's it as far as reference material.

Please teach me about this hobby's history. (I make it sound so epic, ha)

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The Suthbros were well=respected helmet reproductionists, as well as collectors. I bought two helmets out of their personal collection.

 

Mike

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Do an eBay search in the community section. Gary Sutherland is still around and selling lids under the name of: Suthbros

 

He currently has some military items up on eBay.

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Captain Woody

Thanks guys. Can anyone tell me how his brother passed? (Not to be disrespectful). And I checked Gary's ebay account and he puts a lid up for bids every so often.

What DRMO lot did they get their helmets from, because apparently it was rather large. I know it was somewhere in Utah..

 

by the way: Nice helmet costa

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Thanks guys. Can anyone tell me how his brother passed? (Not to be disrespectful). And I checked Gary's ebay account and he puts a lid up for bids every so often.

What DRMO lot did they get their helmets from, because apparently it was rather large. I know it was somewhere in Utah..

 

by the way: Nice helmet costa

the mp helmet was bought from a member who got it from suthobros. it is id'ed-- partial number was tracked down to the vet. if you look closely at the liner visor you can just about make it out. i have the info on him.

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I think the subject of Larry's death is best left to the family to discuss and not for us here on the forum. As for the DREMO yard... it's a secret! wink2.gif Actually, quite a few of the helmet restorer's seem to know where it is, you ask one of them.

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I think the subject of Larry's death is best left to the family to discuss and not for us here on the forum. As for the DREMO yard... it's a secret! wink2.gif Actually, quite a few of the helmet restorer's seem to know where it is, you ask one of them.

 

I suspect these military owned stocks are long gone as there is no longer any need for DoD to stockpile the old M1 helmet since the kelvlar helmet was introduced 20+ years ago.

 

There is only one DRMO in Utah, it's DRMO Hill at Hill AFB. But you have Tooele Army Depot, Ogden Arsenal at Sunset (now the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB) , U.S. Naval Supply Depot (now Defense National Stockpile Center Clearfield) and the Utah General Depot (now Defense Depot Hill Utah (DDHU) Ogden Site at Ogden)

 

Kevin

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The dump place is Smith and Edwards. I think it was back in the 70s that they got a contract from the U.S. Army to take several tons of these pots off their hands. Many were ww11, fixed bails, many of which had been repainted. The restorer guys began to strip off paint and began finding treasures. I know that many 29ers were found there, as well as other divisions. I called there a few years ago and they told me that the fix bail pots were gone. They still had piles of swivel bales, I think for three dollars a piece!

 

Mike

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Captain Woody
The dump place is Smith and Edwards. I think it was back in the 70s that they got a contract from the U.S. Army to take several tons of these pots off their hands. Many were ww11, fixed bails, many of which had been repainted. The restorer guys began to strip off paint and began finding treasures. I know that many 29ers were found there, as well as other divisions. I called there a few years ago and they told me that the fix bail pots were gone. They still had piles of swivel bales, I think for three dollars a piece!

 

Mike

Yeah, I actually talked to Gary Underhill (Lawdog helmet restorations) on the phone and he said that place is pretty much tapped dry. In fact he wasn't even sure if they even had helmets at all anymore. Or maybe that's his way of saying "keep your hands off of my stash" think.gif

 

Who knows.

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I would agree they are close to tapped out. I bought a dozen lids from S&E last fall...they were not the best. Cracked, a couple with only one bail- many were dented beaters.

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Captain Woody
I would agree they are close to tapped out. I bought a dozen lids from S&E last fall...they were not the best. Cracked, a couple with only one bail- many were dented beaters.

Man, I picked up this hobby just as all the good sources were tapped out, huh? ermm.gif

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There was a programme about the Brooklyn Bridge shown here in the UK, They went into some large storage bays under the bridge and there were thousands of WW2 M1's stacked floor to ceiling. w00t.gif The guys handed their helmets in after docking in New York and they have been there ever since. Maybe someone in NYC can check it out.

 

Rich

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Captain Woody
There was a programme about the Brooklyn Bridge shown here in the UK, They went into some large storage bays under the bridge and there were thousands of WW2 M1's stacked floor to ceiling. w00t.gif The guys handed their helmets in after docking in New York and they have been there ever since. Maybe someone in NYC can check it out.

 

Rich

I'm 10 minutes from the city.. I should look into this. Do you have any more information on it?

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Captain Woody

Roadtrip indeed.. I just gotta figure out how to approach this. Should I just walk to the Brooklyn bridge and just ask someone to give me a tour down below? lol

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It would be good if the Brooklyn Bridge site was checked out. I tried searching the net for more info but couldn't find anything. There were also boxed rations down there, i think the idea was to open the site's in the event of a national emergency.

 

Rich

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guys--- that was over 60 years ago. i doubt there is any thing there now. think.gif

 

A pile of iron oxide perhaps? But you never know. Check out this excerpt from a New York Times story from March 2006:

 

Inside the Brooklyn Bridge, a Whiff of the Cold War

 

Published: March 21, 2006

 

For decades it waited in secret inside the masonry foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge, in a damp, dirty and darkened vault near the East River shoreline of Lower Manhattan: a stockpile of provisions that would allow for basic survival if New York City were devastated by a nuclear attack.

 

City workers were conducting a regular structural inspection of the bridge last Wednesday when they came across the cold-war-era hoard of water drums, medical supplies, paper blankets, drugs and calorie-packed crackers — an estimated 352,000 of them, sealed in dozens of watertight metal canisters and, it seems, still edible.

 

To step inside the vault — a dank and lightless room where the walls are lined with dusty boxes — is to be vividly reminded of the anxieties that dominated American life during the military rivalry with the Soviet Union, an era when air-raid sirens and fallout shelters were standard elements of the grade-school curriculum.

 

Several historians said yesterday that the find was exceptional, in part because many of the cardboard boxes of supplies were ink-stamped with two especially significant years in cold-war history: 1957, when the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite, and 1962, when the Cuban missile crisis seemed to bring the world to the precipice of nuclear destruction.

 

....The room is within one of the arched masonry structures under the main entrance ramp to the bridge, not far from the Manhattan anchorage.

 

The full article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/nyregion/21capsule.html

 

brookbridge.jpg

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That would be an interesting find. But I find it hard to believe that the U.S. Army would just leave them there. I think most were repainted and reissued. But I would never say never! I've often wondered about what may still exist next door here at Fort Bragg, or over at Camp Mckall, where I grew up!

 

Mike

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Captain Woody

In reality, I'd say the army probably tapped into that long ago, but on a more optimistic note, I'd say there's still a possibility that they might still be there, just rusting away.. idk, I could either stumble upon and untapped treasure, or a complete dud.

opinions?

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i wouldnt be surprised if there were still sum there, if you dont investigate you will never know, but if its damp it wont be good and there might be hungry rats.

 

my idea is a metal detector a battle field map and a nice holiday somewhere hot all year round, north africa...... lol

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The programme that was shown was recently filmed so they could still be there, there were lots of crated one's found in a wharehouse in London recently so they are still out there. thumbsup.gif

 

Rich

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