conn Posted November 29, 2019 Share #1 Posted November 29, 2019 any photos of helmet being used to cook ? happy thanksgiving everyone ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigschuss Posted November 29, 2019 Share #2 Posted November 29, 2019 I opened this thread expecting it to be about techniques the fakers use to age their creations. Lots of exotic freshies showing up...especially medic helmets these days...that have that "baked" look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Jerry Posted November 29, 2019 Share #3 Posted November 29, 2019 No photos of in use cooking, but I have a unit painted 3rd ID helmet (with matching hawely liner) that was obviously used to cook in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burning Hazard Posted November 29, 2019 Share #4 Posted November 29, 2019 The only one I know of. It's actually a bit of a myth that the M1 was used for cooking, all that leaded paint would not be healthy when heated up. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QED4 Posted November 29, 2019 Share #5 Posted November 29, 2019 When I was in the army (Viet Nam era) it was beaten into our heads in basic that you never, ever use a helmet for cooking or put it in a fire for any reason. If you were caught doing so you would be paying for the helmet and facing disciplinary action for destroying government property. Cooking in it would not only burn off the chinstrap but also remove the temper from the steel making it useless. I don't imagine it was much different in WWII but there is always somebody that is going to do it anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve B. Posted November 29, 2019 Share #6 Posted November 29, 2019 I agree 100% with QED4. I spent 20+ years in the Army and never heard or saw an instance of it happening. We shaved out of them all the time, but never put the helmet itself over a heat source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rooster Posted November 29, 2019 Share #7 Posted November 29, 2019 We were also instructed to never cook in them. The heat ruins em. Carried water in mine but thats it. Sat on it sometimes too. We also had food enough provided. C rats MRES and hot chow so its not like you ever needed to cook in them. During the wars... they prob scrounged up an abondoned steel pot to cook in and not the one they wore..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted November 29, 2019 Share #8 Posted November 29, 2019 I’ve heard of eating out of them. I had a 28th ID helmet from a POW who had to use his helmet as a bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted December 2, 2019 Share #9 Posted December 2, 2019 Just for fun, These are two photos from the November 1982 issue of SOLDIERS Magazine, this one I remember reading myself back then, in fact there were several copies in our Day Room, that I took one home with me when I ETSed a few weeks later, haven't had it in many years but was able to find a copy online to buy, as I got into collecting these from the 60s (Army Information Digest/Army Digest) and the 70s up till my time (Army Digest/Soldiers) In it, the man in the photos, one M/Sgt Mike Mason, a Vietnam 1st Cav Div vet, presumably Infantry (Can't see pockets for CIB) currently serving at Headquarters United States Army patch here Mason, clearly a long serving soldier, Reminisces on the soon to be replaced Steel Pot with the new Fritz, he claimed to have made popcorn in the helmet one time in Nam, also one time fresh beans, dried Navy Beans, soaked in water to make them soft then using C-Ration grease (grease from Pork Slices etc), plus bacon grease from the cooks or something, and cooked, both times using C-4 chunks from a claymore to heat helmet. He also laments the fact that you can't dig hasty positions, or cop a squat on the new Fritz when Taking 10 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted December 2, 2019 Share #10 Posted December 2, 2019 Never cooked in one, but I seem to recall shaving with one. Of course, if you did that, then you had to clean it thoroughly. I got out of that habit and brought a shallow plastic tub to the field instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtdorango Posted December 2, 2019 Share #11 Posted December 2, 2019 Cant forget Holley in Battleground forever trying to cook his eggs!....mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted December 2, 2019 Share #12 Posted December 2, 2019 Cant forget Holley in Battleground forever trying to cook his eggs!....mike D582B889-2A1A-4181-A41E-9458C8B562A6.jpeg Good deal dorango, yeah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted December 2, 2019 Share #13 Posted December 2, 2019 There is a Boarding House Far Far Away.....Were they Serve Ham and Eggs Three Times a Day........O How Them Boarders yellWhen They Hear the Dinner Bell.......They Give the Landlord Hell Three times a Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conn Posted December 3, 2019 Author Share #14 Posted December 3, 2019 thanks for all the replies, I have had ww2 vets tell me about boiling water in it to clean their socks , I was told from the same vets that they would steal from the cooks whatever was in the large cooking pots by dipping there helmets into it, when I was in the Corps, we were threaten with serve penalty about using the helmet for anything but to put on our grapes. semper fi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOLO Posted December 4, 2019 Share #15 Posted December 4, 2019 GI ammo cans were also used for cooking food or heating up rations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted December 30, 2019 Share #16 Posted December 30, 2019 Found one more Image of Holly making scrambled eggs in his Steel Pot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nirvana Posted January 12, 2020 Share #17 Posted January 12, 2020 I had a front seam swivel bail back when I was young that had very clearly been cooked in. There was soot and fire damage to the paint. One of the bails has been broken off, so perhaps someone kept a spare beater to cook in, but there is no doubt that had sat on a fire or in coals. All the damage was on the dome, not the rim, so it had been sitting upside down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rooster Posted January 13, 2020 Share #18 Posted January 13, 2020 I had a front seam swivel bail back when I was young that had very clearly been cooked in. There was soot and fire damage to the paint. One of the bails has been broken off, so perhaps someone kept a spare beater to cook in, but there is no doubt that had sat on a fire or in coals. All the damage was on the dome, not the rim, so it had been sitting upside down. Could be too a kid had it before you camping in their backyard? Or the boyscouts etc etc. Personally when I was in.... We had plenty of food and even if we didnt... I never wanted any food or crud like that in my helmet. Besides being instructed many times over to never cook in it...... I never wanted to mess mine up. And cooking in it would definately trash it so, I would guess it happened.. Im certain it did..... But I am guessing, rarely with the one you were wearing. I could see cooking in a picked up discarded pot, ours or theirs but not the one I have to wear. Not the one you are counting on to deflect shrapnel or a bullet. Besides, lead paint residue in the food prob not too good for ya. Besdies the messy grease that would be left over... etc etc etc ... the heat ruins the steels hardness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rooster Posted January 13, 2020 Share #19 Posted January 13, 2020 I had a front seam swivel bail back when I was young that had very clearly been cooked in. There was soot and fire damage to the paint. One of the bails has been broken off, so perhaps someone kept a spare beater to cook in, but there is no doubt that had sat on a fire or in coals. All the damage was on the dome, not the rim, so it had been sitting upside down. Theres one piece of gear I remember a lot of folks cooking in, including me. And that was the canteen cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nirvana Posted January 13, 2020 Share #20 Posted January 13, 2020 I can’t speak to its history prior to my purchase in 1990 or so, but it was picked out from a pile of helmets at a flea market surplus dealer. I got it because it was the cheapest, as I was in elementary school, making money more important than condition. It’s possible I still have it, but I’ve not seen it in 10-15 years. I hate being the jerk that says “I’ve got one, but I can’t provide pics,” but here I am. I remember the dome having a number of minor dents, and the paint being a lighter green. I don’t recall there being any cork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap Camouflage Pattern I Posted February 28, 2020 Share #21 Posted February 28, 2020 Found this going through some files I had saved, stupidly I did not record where I found it. Christmas dinner in Vietnam, I believe the photo was taken by a soldier named Bana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conn Posted February 28, 2020 Author Share #22 Posted February 28, 2020 great photo thank you in hollywood movies, i remember a seen that the marine some where in the PTO , was cooking and threw the helmet on with the food in it, old movie, i will one day remember and list it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costa Posted February 28, 2020 Share #23 Posted February 28, 2020 good way to get sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rooster Posted February 28, 2020 Share #24 Posted February 28, 2020 I was thinking the same thing. Green lead army paint.. or what ever kind of paint... Not a good combo with food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pararaftanr2 Posted February 29, 2020 Share #25 Posted February 29, 2020 Those were very different times. Back then, children's toys, their cribs......everything was painted with lead based paints. No one gave it a second thought. Many people chain smoked. The danger of cooking in a painted helmet would not have crossed their minds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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