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M1917A1....with a net?!


Sabrejet
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General Apathy

 

 

Ken...I bought it at Stoneleigh many years ago from a Midlands-based dealer who traded as Norman D something or other. Ring any bells.....!? ;)

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Ian, I know you said that you bought this helmet at the Stoneliegh show quite some years ago, but I'm sure that the dealer would stand by the quality of the helmet and give you your money back even after all these years, wouldn't I just . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^_^ ^_^

 

So £75 pounds waiting for you, did you get one of the low pressure liners at the same time, notice choice of two makes St Clair or Hood Rubber £49 complete. . . . . .. Hahahahahaaa those were the days.

 

Ken.

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I seen a photo, maybe two, of the British net being worn on Tin Hats by a few troops of the 7th Division Ft Ord Cailforina in 1941 during amphibious maneuvers off the California coast, Stilwell was in command then. This fact is intriguing because the 7th Division went into the Aleutian Island operation wearing these very nets, now on M1s, they dropped out of site afterwards in the division.

 

The book was one of those new books that came out in the mid 1990s that show cased never before published color photographs from WWII, don't have it no more as I would of scanned the photo-photos to post in a heartbeat.

I was able to spot this book by it's cover on Amazon, ordered it, will scan photo when it arrives :D .

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Garandomatic

WWII GI in color... that book was a revelation to me when I was a high school student. Still have my copy, held together through good intentions alone. Lots of "field use."

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I used to have this book too.

 

post-34986-0-22901700-1443935789.jpg

 

 

As a bit of War movie trivia, that guy with the glasses from the book, who we see posing through out the book, was a extra in the 1990 movie Memphis Bell, he was a ground crewman, I think we spy him loading machine gun ammo into one of the bombers. I wonder if we can find out who he is, and then try to find a image of him from the movie?

 

Re Edit.

 

I wonder if he's listed here, in the Other Crew list or the Thanks list?

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100133/fullcredits/

 

 

 

Ian could you check if there are names in the book, like acknowledgements, that jive with names on these lists, There's a Good Gentleman.

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Kevin...I too have that book and was acquainted with a few of the participants as they were all leading British collectors and reeancters at the time. Remember...back then, if you reenacted, all of your gear and clothing had to be original as there was no repro industry in those days. One of the principal participants...Chris Greenaway (the big guy!) was the "go to" dealer back then. His London-based "Blunderbuss Antiques" was the place to buy US militaria. He's since down-sized and now sells exclusively on-line...just google Blunderbuss Antiques.

 

Our very own General Apathy... aka Ken Lewis...knows him and members of that group quite well. He might be able to add further info?

 

Ian

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General Apathy

I used to have this book too.

 

attachicon.gif 513vkuDvtdL._SX333_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

 

As a bit of War movie trivia, that guy with the glasses from the book, who we see posing through out the book, was a extra in the 1990 movie Memphis Bell, he was a ground crewman, I think we spy him loading machine gun ammo into one of the bombers. I wonder if we can find out who he is, and then try to find a image of him from the movie?

 

Re Edit.

 

I wonder if he's listed here, in the Other Crew list or the Thanks list?

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100133/fullcredits/

 

 

 

Ian could you check if there are names in the book, like acknowledgements, that jive with names on these lists, There's a Good Gentleman.

Hi Patches, that would be a friend Andrew Fletcher, he worked on Memphis Belle as an armorer, but as with most films members of the crew get dressed up in relevant kit and perform small background scenes, partly due to the hours of boredom stood around on film sets.

 

See this link to see which films Andrew has worked on, note he's listed as armorer on Memphis Belle. Andrew currently lives in Paris with his French girlfriend.

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0281944/

 

Lewis.

 

.

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Kevin...by way of a PS to Ken's response...I recall Andrew and his then partner used to live a 40s lifestyle in that their home furnishings and the clothes they wore etc., were all genuine vintage items!

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Our thanks to Ian and General Apathy, great to put a name to him, had this book for years, just might have to get it again, great photos in it. Tried to find an image of him in Belle, but no dice.

 

Hold tight for the scan of 7th Div troops on maneuvers off California in 1941 where a British net is seen on a tin hat, book is on the way to me.

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Very interesting. MK II British type eyeshields (also copied by the US) and obviously US mess gear. Unusual cover with integral foliage loops?

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the bayonet appears to be an uncut M1903 Springfield bayonet judging by the spear pointed blade with a blood groove

 

the British M1907 doesnt have the blood groove and has a knife point instead of the spear point tip.

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The photo in post #35 by Bolo I believe is from the Life Magazine archive and listed as U.S. and British Marines participate in field exercises in the UK in 1943. Here are a couple more from the series, note net on second helmet in top photo.

 

post-98601-0-59000100-1444073105.jpg

 

post-98601-0-03144300-1444073139.jpg

 

post-98601-0-02457400-1444073163.jpg

 

 

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And Here's the Photo of the British/Canadian nets as promised. It's date is July 1941 California. Now it's been a very long time since I had this book, nearly 11 years, so I thought it was captioned 7th Div troops, but it's not, however as a guess even back then when I had the book, my guess that these are in fact 7th Div troops is a good one, as the 7th Div was stationed in California, and the nets were used by troops of the 7th Div up to and during the Attu operation and maybe beyond.

 

post-34986-0-24810900-1444158392.jpg

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  • 7 months later...

Prisoners Bataan 1942 , US POW's wearing the M1917A1 helmet, one soldier can be seen with a large cargo or hand made netting on his helmet.

post-1885-0-22381300-1465016438.jpg

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  • 2 years later...

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