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80th Division Helmet markings WWI


rolfi
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80thdivcollector

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Supply Company 319th Infantry Regiment

The white part of the insignia is not so shiny like on the picture. It have a more brown/sand tone.

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  • 9 months later...
  • 10 months later...

Here is another interesting one that crossed my desk recently - possibly a soldier who transferred from one unit to another, or was temporarily detached for duty with one or the other. This is a good solid ID'd group to a fellow with a Machine Gun disc, and a collector's note that this veteran designated his unit 313th MG in his 80th Division Association membership. Interesting also that he has both the Artillery unit's gun sight insignia, an 80th Division insignia, and a machine gun inked on his gas mask carrier.

 

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  • 2 years later...

Greetings. I don't know if I'm in the correct forum (I'm brand new here), so I'm seeking your help. have my grandfather's Marines helmet from WWI, but have no clue about its value. I haven't decided whether to sell it or keep it (it's quite the family heirloom, and I'm very proud to own it), but I am curious about its origins and its current day value. See the attached image. Can someone point me in the right direction . . . or to the correct forum. Thanks! (I can send larger, more detailed images directly to someone; this site won't let me upload very much.)

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  • 9 months later...

I just picked up a M17 helmet that belonged to a 80th Division 319th IR vet. The helmet has a white diamond, not a circle. I've enclosed a photo of the trunk the helmet came from, but am having trouble downloading a picture of the helmet. At any rate, it is the same as the helmet pictured elsewhere in this thread, but attributed to the 317th.

 

Note also that the gas mask bag with with 319th writen on it also has a diamond figure written on it.

 

Based on this limited evidence, I concur with the comment below the detail on the regimental markings from the official historian of the 80th Division may have gotten garbled somehow.

 

Another possibility is that the owners of the helmet and the gas mask got transferred.

 

Anybody out there have an informed opinion?

 

Mark D.

re History of the Eightieth Division, A.E.F. Russell Stultz, and edited by Dr. Anthony in 2004

" the distinctive symbols of the various units of the Division were declared official on April 30th. For the four Infantry regiments, in their order beginning with the 317th Infantry, they were a diamond, square, circle, and half-circle"

Fascinating and undeniably useful information; but I wonder if, perhaps during Dr Anthony's editing and enhancement, it has been somehow garbled. Taken at face value we have the attribution of the markings for the infantry, as...
317th Infantry-diamond,
318th Infantry- square,
319th Infantry- circle and
320th Infantry- semi circle.

So far so good; but information posted elsewhere in this thread suggest that the diamond was actually used by 319th Infantry; see, for example, the gas mask bag of Private Harrer and the helmet mentioned by "mars&thunder" .I think that most would agree with the attribution of the semi circle to 320th Infantry. The ebay guide, by "80thdivcollector", attributes the square to 318th Infantry and I see little reason to doubt that. So we now have...
317th Infantry-circle (?),
318th Infantry- square,
319th Infantry- diamond and
320th Infantry- semi circle.

 

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Here's the helmet that came out of the trunk pictured above.

I just picked up a M17 helmet that belonged to a 80th Division 319th IR vet. The helmet has a white diamond, not a circle. I've enclosed a photo of the trunk the helmet came from, but am having trouble downloading a picture of the helmet. At any rate, it is the same as the helmet pictured elsewhere in this thread, but attributed to the 317th.

 

Note also that the gas mask bag with with 319th writen on it also has a diamond figure written on it.

 

Based on this limited evidence, I concur with the comment below the detail on the regimental markings from the official historian of the 80th Division may have gotten garbled somehow.

 

Another possibility is that the owners of the helmet and the gas mask got transferred.

 

Anybody out there have an informed opinion?

 

Mark D.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Hi, I recently purchased an WW1 era helmet with a insignia with a red arrowhead pointing up inside of a yellow shield and an orage stripe below it, I am not familiar with the insignia and was wondering if anyone knows what it is. It is pictured here but the file was too big to upload. http://m.imgur.com/KQf9t7P

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  • 5 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Nice blue Diamond, 3rd Bn, 317th IR helmet. Is there any Name written under the liner or on the chinstrap?

Thank you for the comment.

Unfortunately there is no name on the inside or on the chinstrap.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 11 months later...

I got this one in the mail the other day. 80th Division, 319th IR/317thIR, Supply Company. It's a British MKI, therefore a likely early issue - before the M17s became available to the AEF.

 

Did we resolve whether the diamond was for the 317th IR as indicated by the reference source, or the 319th as suggested by surviving equipment markings?

 

Mark D.

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Here's a helmet belonging to an officer from the 80th Division. His trunk identified him as belonging to the 319th IR. This suggests that the diamond symbol represents the 119th IR.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My great great uncle, Logan Bledsoe, was wounded with Company A, 318th Infantry during WWI. I have always wanted an A/318 helmet. I am looking for a red diamond with an 'A' in it, right?

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The diamonds don't typically have letters in them.

 

However, I believe Roland has done additional research on these markings, and now has the 318th Infantry using the square insignia.

 

That would mean you should be looking for a red square with an 'A'.

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  • 2 months later...
gumbytoddnet

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I am sorry may be wrong area to post this? But looks like a white and blue diamond? Any Ideas on this one? Thanks!

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