Jump to content

Battle Damaged NVA Pith Helmet w/ Graffiti


AnDuc49
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello all,

After talking to Daniel Griffin, one of the mods in charge of this section of the forum, he graciously allowed me to share this helmet.

 

The helmet itself is an early pattern helmet likely produced in the early 50s and 60s by Communist China for export to North Vietnam. These helmets were later phased out in preference to those produced locally beginning the mid-war period.

 

It's typical of helmets manufactured by the Chinese; it's simply made of cardboard impregnated with resin with a khaki-green cotton twill covering glued and stapled to the exterior. The sweatband is a first pattern type made of thin interwoven bamboo that was covered with some kind of plastic/vinyl material. Most of the metal present is aluminum which has oxidized due to exposure. The chinstrap brad itself though is brass.

 

The helmet itself, as can be seen in the photos experienced three hits from some object: There are three entry holes on the front brim and three large exit holes along the wearer's left. The seller believed that this damage was possibly caused from a M-60, but neither of us are really sure. If anyone knows, please feel free to chime in.

 

The helmet itself is extensively graffitied both on the interior and exterior. The exterior lists four names: Nguyen Thi Vinh, Duong Thi Ly, Chinh Thi Pham and Dong Van Phu. These were all written in Vietnamese hand and interestingly enough, the first 3 names are female names. The much larger and bolder "Nguyen Thi Vinh August 17, 1968" was not written by anyone who was Vietnamese. More likely than not, this was the vet who picked up making a note of the date and the name of the soldier who it belonged to. Based on this, I would say that his helmet belonged to a female soldier named Vinh. I doubt that she was a front line soldier though. It would be more likely that she was a performer, a nurse, a guide or such.

 

The interior of the helmet is also quite heavily adorned with writing, but in some areas, the writing has either become too faded or damaged to read, but I did my best to translate.

 

The largest bit of writing in the front brim of the helmet seems to be the soldier's military postal code and home town. These postal codes generally corresponded to units, but they were frequently changed It goes: ".... HT (Hop Tho -> Mail Box) 24089 CK. Minh Son Commune, Do Luong District. Nghe An Province. There is also a small bit of writing written off to the side, but bullet/shrapnel damage to it has rendered it unreadable.

 

The rear brim is EXTREMELY FADED, but I after messing around with different filters and contrast values, I believe it reads "2 February 1968, a special date to remember in the future, your dearest". The handwriting here is completely different compared to that anywhere else on the helmet, so I believe it could possible have been Vinh's lover. The date itself most likely represented the day that she began her journey South.

 

On the wearer's left side, the writing is also extremely faded. To me, it looks like it reads "4 June 68, Quan" (literally translates to Army). If correct, this would likely be the date that she entered South Vietnam and began whatever mission that she was assigned.

 

The opposite side is just simply marked "T.A.". I have no clue of any significance that this might have. Perhaps it's a code, but I am not sure.

 

Anyhow, I hope that you all enjoyed this helmet. What I have now is simply guesswork and intuition, so I could be wrong on some points here. If there are any mistakes, feel free to point them out to me.

 

-- Khang

post-154926-0-86939400-1523801091_thumb.jpg

post-154926-0-64546000-1523801105_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

USCapturephotos

I really enjoyed seeing and reading about your helmet. What a great piece of history from the Vietnam War.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a great helmet, but where is the proof that it is a "spoil of war".

As in my post, I noted that the bold writing in marker, "Nguyen Thi Vinh, August 17, 1968" was written by the vet.

 

Unfortunately, the seller did not grab the name of the vet. I wasn't sure whether this was allowed as items are verbally supposed to be provenanced to a vet, but after asking Daniel Griffin, one of the mods in charge of this section, he gave me the thumbs up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patchcollector

So the thought is that the person was killed wearing the helmet?It seems odd to me that there is no sign of blood on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

vintageproductions

As in my post, I noted that the bold writing in marker, "Nguyen Thi Vinh, August 17, 1968" was written by the vet.

 

Unfortunately, the seller did not grab the name of the vet. I wasn't sure whether this was allowed as items are verbally supposed to be provenanced to a vet, but after asking Daniel Griffin, one of the mods in charge of this section, he gave me the thumbs up.

 

The rules of posting in this section are there must be provenance to the veteran who brought the item home.

 

Like I said it is a great helmet, but there is no documentation to an actual vet bring back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So the thought is that the person was killed wearing the helmet?It seems odd to me that there is no sign of blood on it.

 

I have seen a lot of bringback NVA headgear and consider that most if not all were battlefield captures. I've only seen a couple of bringbacks that exhibited blood. I would venture that very few vets would bring back a bloody helmet, especially if they would have to carry it around awhile. Just the messiness and the smell would be a great deterrent.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patchcollector

I'm not a helmet expert so I can't speak to the authenticity of the helmet itself but I'm suspicious of "battle damage" that shows no evidence of the trauma that most likely would have been accompanied by the rounds,especially with a cloth covered helmet.
I've fired the M60 many times while in the Military and I've seen what it can do.Multiple head shots with a round like the M60 uses would IMO create a lot of damage,and there would have been blood and gore present IMO.
Without solid provenance one must surmise that the possibility of "battle damage" being added later is a real concern,on any helmet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

USCapturephotos

Could have been dropped and hit while laying on the ground or picked up by the vet and used for target practice? Patchcollector makes a very valid point.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...