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Marked Helmet Liners, The Unsung Hero Of The M-1


Bugme
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Figured I'd show off two of my nicer marked liners. Both are WWII liners with use into the 50s.

 

First up is an early Inland liner. It has a follow me stripe done in medical tape on the back and is marked to the 719th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion on the webbing.

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Next is a Firestone liner with 5th ID decals on the sides and a NCO bar painted on the back. The sweatband is post war OD#7 and came out of PA so I believe this was most likely used when the 5th was training in Pennsylvania.

 

Interesting to note is that you can make out the outline of a previous 5th ID decal under the current ones. As far as I can tell it looks like the border less WWII era decals were painted over and the post war decals were applied.

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A example of a early 70s liner of the West German based 2nd Battalion 4th Infantry 56th Artillery Brigade, the 2nd of the 4th was assigned to the brigade in September 1970. Note at this time the brigade decal doesn't have a PERSHING Tab for whatever reason.

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A example of a early 70s liner of the West German based 2nd Battalion 4th Infantry 56th Artillery Brigade, the 2nd of the 4th was assigned to the brigade in September 1970. Note at this time the brigade decal doesn't have a PERSHING Tab for whatever reason.

Just a bit of Info on the tab. This fro the Wiki Visually site on the unit's patch.

The shoulder sleeve insignia was originally approved for the 56th Artillery Brigade on 9 June 1971 The Pershing tab was authorized for wear effective 18 September 1970, it was redesignated for the 56th Field Artillery Brigade on 7 April 1972.

 

The TAB was out before the shoulder patch as we see.

 

From 1963 to 1970, the authorized shoulder sleeve insignia was the emblem of the Seventh United States Army. From 1970 to 1971, the Pershing tab was worn with the Seventh Army insignia.

 

So

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Nice marked liners seen on Captain Audie L. Murphy with an unidentified fellow officer, either a Major or a Lieutenant Colonel, and the 4th Army Commander in Texas, believe in summer of 1951, 4th Army CG at this time, LTG LeRoy Lutes.

 

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Hello, I am new here. I recently came into possession of a Helmet and the Liner had some markings that I couldn't really place.

Its currently at my father's house but he is going to ship it up to me soon so I can take better pics of it later if needed. It also has a Shell but its almost completely bare of paint.

I'm just very curious of what the marking could be. My only guess is that it could be a helmet from the 551st PIB but all of the pictures of helmets I've seen have the symbol painted in white on the side and not in black nor the exact style either.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

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That marking is in a weird place for a unit marking, and doesn't really look like any 551st mark I've seen. It could be just a liner that a bored soldier in the Pacific drew on to personalize it.

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Thank you for the response

 

That was one of my other thoughts as well but this isn't my area of expertise and just wanted an outside opinion. Ive got another liner but its missing the suspension and has no markings. Im currently in the process of dating that one.

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I also thought of that but from what I can tell, this helmet is from 1942-43 and the Marianas-Bonin Command was established in 1947 so It makes me skeptical of it being that.

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Im in agreement.. just "sailor art" in my thinking.I posted a knife once from a CB with a Palm tree motif etched into the grip.

 

Also have a Navy helmet with a bit of art done to it.I will post it if I can find the old topic.

 

Found it:

 

Liner and shell have been together for ever.The paint on liner is like the white paint used to paint the name on the front of the helmet.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/178342-smitty/?hl=smitty

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a liner I recently acquired: the liner of WWII medal of honor recipient John J Tominac from his time with the 3rd armored division in the 50's.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Came across this great photo from June 1948 of an early post war marking for the 504th Airborne Infantry, and maybe painted on, insignia on the steel helmet in these cases, but same marking may have been applied to the liners as well, , it is a sold shield with Flaming Sword, scalloped bottoms with inverted point, with border, but no scroll with motto. Troops are up from Bragg at Dix giving summer drill training to either a New Jersey or New York City ROTC unit. The 1950s decal version seen HERE for comparison

 

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Jennings Lane

KOREAN WAR ERA UNIT PAINTED HELMET LINER. 663 Field Artillery Battalion.

 

Ryukyus Command, the unit is the 663rd Field Artillery Battalion, a separate FA BN on Okinawa, assigned sometime in 1955 or so from Ft Bragg North Carolina, inactivated on The Rock 25 June 1958 due to the CARS Reorganization. The liner's actual wear will then date after 1955 when the unit is in Okinawa, the unit crest for the 663rd FA BN adopted in October 1953 when unit was still at Ft Bragg.

[Thanks to Forum member; Patches for identifying and providing unit history]

 

 

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Nickman983

Here's a really nice KW era 5th ID NCO liner. I already had one liner just like this one so when I saw it come up I had to have it

 

 

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Nickman983

Here are the two together. The liner I just picked up is a 51 dated capac/westinghouse liner, the other one is a repainted WWII firestone. I find it interesting that one has the decals on the side while the other has it up front, but they both have the same style NCO bar.

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3 hours ago, Nickman983 said:

Here are the two together. The liner I just picked up is a 51 dated capac/westinghouse liner, the other one is a repainted WWII firestone. I find it interesting that one has the decals on the side while the other has it up front, but they both have the same style NCO bar.

 

 

Very interesting Nick, good stuff, here's two images I recently posted of the insignia on the 5th Inf Div liners from the period from one of their Basic Graduation Yearbooks, (the 5th Inf Dov being only a Training Division back then), note only the one photo we see the White Border, looks like a device of something in center of diamond, maybe regimental number, can't tell, the other are either a stencil or a decal without the White border, hard to tell and with other photos from this particular yearbook the Non White Border is seen on the liners.

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