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WWII 29th Infantry Division painted helmet - Thoughts?


DDay29
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I have this WWII 29th Infantry Division painted helmet. I do not know much about WWII helmets, so I would like to get thoughts on this helmet, particularly on the 29th Division painted insignia, the net, and the liner. Thanks for your input.

 

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everforward

A couple of questions:

 

How long have you owned it and any known history as stated above.

 

I do like the net to start off with......

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Burning Hazard

You'll have to take the net off and take detailed photos outdoor in natural sunlight, otherwise it's too hard to tell with the pictures you posted.

 

Pat

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Here are some additional pictures of the helmet. The 29th Division insignia is about 2" in diameter. I acquired this helmet a few years ago. It came out of Virginia. I got it from someone who got it from the relative of the veteran. The veteran's last name was Jones. The helmet came with an overseas cap and picture of three GI's posing in German uniforms. That is about all of the history I have on it. I would appreciate any thoughts/opinions on the helmet.

 

 

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My .02:

 

In comparing it with what you find as how things were done by the various units of the 29thID at the time of the Normandy landings and the push into the interior of France (say the first 2-3 months the Division was in combat), the markings on the helmet are not consistent with known good examples... and I cite this from examples dug from foxholes as well as good pictures of troops that show helmet markings.

 

That is not to say the helmet wasn't around in the later days of combat ops that the 29th was involved in....pics exist of some helmets with different-sizes of emblem and having them painted lower on the front of the helmet. The 29th emblem in these pics looks like it has two shades of blue which would indicate a touch-up at one point. The 'grey' side of the emblem was usually white or something near-white as they could come up with.

 

Hard to say about it really. If the provenance is iron-clad, then who is to argue about it. :)

 

I can tell you that reenactors were painting their helmets like this in the late 70s-early 80s, because I was one of them.

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