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WWII 504th PIR Paratrooper helmet


nreed_94
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Hey everyone, after running around crazy trying to find a helmet to sit atop my M42 Paratrooper jacket, I have finally settled on this suuuuuuper nice set up from the 504th PIR. It has an excellent Westinghouse liner with wide buckle yokes. The outside has been repainted for parade use and has a 504th decal on each side. The shell is a standard M1 with fixed bales and nice coated brass hardware. It is a pretty awesome piece for a unit that still exists today, right down the road from where I work. It is just salty enough to fit in perfectly with my collection. In other news, I am selling a nice M1C helmet to help pay for the latest spur of the moment large purchase.

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Side view with 504th decal. This was a popular way of wearing helmets for parade use. Thank God we dont have to do that now

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Here is the M42 jacket that it will sit atop. That is it, I am done spending money this month!!

 

*shamless plug for the items I have listed in the for sale section to fund my airborne collecting addiction *

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As far as the 504th decal on the liner goes, it is definitely a post war addition. My guess is late 40s to early 50s, as the use of a dash between the words strike and hold is present. This disappeared later on for some unknown reason (lineage and heraldry in the army is weird). Overall, a very cool helmet that saw service during WWII, and on into the post war era. Pretty neat piece of history

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Ill have to do some digging into the stamp on the webbing. I thought this may have just been a manufacturer stamp. I also had the seller send me a photo of the front of the helmet. It has an extra hole, and two lines in the paint that look as if it belonged to an LT.

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