Please help with this M1 Helmet Marking :)

[zachfield22]

Hello everyone!

 

Any idea what the yellow 11 and + sign mean on this helmet? There is visible impact on the helmet, a dent in the helmet and liner about the size of a baseball and I always suspected the helmet marking meant KIA. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[QED4]

My guess would be that the helmet was used in some sort of impact test and the marking was something to do with that. Also remember that anyone with a paint brush can put any marking they want on a helmet and it doesn't always mean something, there were lots of kids with lots of paint brushes and lots of surplus helmets for lots of years.

[Bugme]

Hello Zach, I moved this into the helmet section where you'd likely get better results to your question.

As I mentioned in our email exchange, this is not likely a KIA marking. I also do not think a kid did these markings, although anything is possible. In my limited opinion, it could be that this is a USN helmet with the two vertical bars being Lieutenant Rank. The cross could be medical, chaplain or any other number of impromptu markings used by the Navy(if it is indeed even navy).

[The Rooster]

Can you post more pictures/ The inside and the liner. What ever happened to it prob happened a long time ago.

Doesnt look fresh? Looks like maybe a .45 round hit it ? Big enough strike mark for a .45 and though the .45 has a lot of kick.. It doesnt have alot of velocity like a 9mm. But would leave a nice dent like that.