33 signature helmet

[akriener]

Hello everyone! I’d like to share with you a very special and one of a kind helmet I acquired. Some of you may have seen me previously post about my great uncle on my dad’s side (my dad’s mom’s brother). He was in Able Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He jumped on D-Day and fought through to the Battle of the Bulge where he was wounded. He was awarded two Purple Hearts, two Oak Leaf Clusters and four Bronze Stars. I have attached his obituary and can provide some unit documents if anyone is interested. Unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to meet him and he never spoke to anyone in our family about his time in the war. The helmet I am going to show you is perhaps my closest connection to him, by extension.

 

The helmet itself is a Schlueter with heat stamp 84A. It is a front seam, swivel loop with a Seaman Paper Company liner. Shell chinstraps are original and the liner chinstrap is a postwar, black painted steel version. There is a Guadalcanal sticker applied by a veteran on the right side of the shell as well as hand painted, postwar paint of the Screaming Eagles logo on the left side and a 2nd Rangers insignia on the rear.

 

This helmet contains 33 veteran signatures from WWII. Every signature on this helmet is someone notable or of a notable unit, company, unit, division, etc. , division, etc. This helmet was previously owned by a collector for 15 years who lived in Pennsylvania. When the Band of Brothers series came out he made a point to attend many of the shows in the state. My understanding is that he also lived in Hersey, PA which is where Dick Winters lived. He was in need of funds and sold this helmet to another collector who I then acquired it from. I have included a sampling of photos of some of the veterans signing it at some of these shows. I was able to identify 22 out of 33 signatures on this helmet. I will be posting the unidentified ones in hopes that people may recognize them. The signatures have been authenticated. And before anyone asks, no this helmet was not cheap [emoji51] But who are we to put a value on history?

 

“Easy” Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

Dick Winters

Wild Bill Guarnere

Babe Heffron

Donald Malarkey

Buck Compton

Ed Mauser

Brad Freeman

 

Bob Noody, “Fox” Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, https://www.valorstudios.com/Images/VictoryPass/bob-noody.htm

 

Bill Gast, M4 Sherman driver, 743rd Tank Battalion, landed on D-Day, one of 5 out of 15 tanks that survived, Silver Star and Purple Heart, https://teachinghistorymatters.com/tag/bill-gast/

 

Jake McNiece, 1st Demolition Section of the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. “Filthy Thirteen” - This unit was the inspiration for the book and subsequent film The Dirty Dozen, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_McNiece

 

Guy Whidden, paratrooper machine gunner in HQ Company, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/18/us/guy-whidden-mohawk-wwii-vet-trnd/index.html

 

Hank Kudzick, USS Nautilus (SS-168) - Sank Japanese carrier at Midway, https://kywnewsradio.radio.com/articles/news/bethlehem-sailor-recalls-defective-torpedoes-nearly-changed-trajectory-battle-midway

 

Harold W. Billow, Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, Malmedy Massacre Survivor.

Ted Paluch, Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, Malmedy Massacre Survivor.

Unreadable signature, Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, Malmedy Massacre Survivor.

 

Emmett T. Lang, 334th Infantry Regiment of the 84th Infantry Division of the Army, Battle of the Bulge, Author of Always a Soldier But Never G.I.: A World War II Soldiers Personal Journey.

 

Harold Derr, turret gunner Grumman TBF Avenger, Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 232 VMTB-232 “Red Devils”, Okinawa.

 

Thomas R. Vaucher, B-29 pilot part of the B-29s test team charged with preparing it for combat use (first to fly it at 38,000 feet), flew first B-29 combat mission over Japan June 15, 1944, mission commander for the Show of Force Flyover of 526 B-29s over the Japanese surrender ceremony aboard the USS Battleship Missouri on September 2, 1945, flew almost 40 different types of planes and completed 117 combat missions, https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/military/2019/11/11/veterans-day-nj-centenarian-vets-honored-special-lunch/2564706001/.

 

Sidney Philips, How Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division and saw combat as an 81mm mortarman in a number of battles including the Battle of the Tenaru during the Guadalcanal Campaign and the Battle of Cape Gloucester, played by Ashton Holmes in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Phillips.

 

RV (Romus Valton) Burgin, mortarman K-Company (King Company from 1913 to 1957 – Kilo Company after 1957 with the new Military Phonetic Alphabet), 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, Battle of Cape Gloucester, Battle of Peleliu, Battle of Okinawa, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, played by Martin McCann in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romus_Burgin.

 

Joe Berardi, B-17 bomber pilot in the 8th Air Force, 351st Bomb Group, 509th Squadron. He flew 32 missions and accumulated 1,000 hours in the cockpit. His 30th mission was over Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

 

Eugene J. Richardson, Jr, Tuskegee Airman

William “Bill” Broadwater, Tuskegee Airman

 

M.L. (Mahlon) Fink, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division, Iwo Jima, the veteran witnessed the flag being raised on Iwo Jima as per http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/loc.natlib.afc2001001.66537.

 

RE (Richard Eugene) Cole, Doolittle Raid, co-pilot to Jimmy Doolittle in the lead airplane of the raid, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_E._Cole.

 

 

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[iron bender]

That is really great! Love it. Dallas Market Hall used to be a hotbed for guys (and a few women) who wrote really good books about their wartime experience. German vets, Japanese vets, you name it. RV seemed to be a regular, met Adolf Galland several times, (lot of German pilots). Then there were the Texas Rangers too who made regular appearances. Ray Martinez seemed to always be there and I loved visiting with him and his wife VerNell. (Martinez helped cap Whitmann at the UT tower). I always enjoyed the sea of collectors who would walk right past them without batting an eye as there was nothing but a book for sale. That's a great helmet. Met several of these guys at the opening of the D-Day museum in NOLA

[akriener]

57 minutes ago, iron bender said:

That is really great! Love it. Dallas Market Hall used to be a hotbed for guys (and a few women) who wrote really good books about their wartime experience. German vets, Japanese vets, you name it. RV seemed to be a regular, met Adolf Galland several times, (lot of German pilots). Then there were the Texas Rangers too who made regular appearances. Ray Martinez seemed to always be there and I loved visiting with him and his wife VerNell. (Martinez helped cap Whitmann at the UT tower). I always enjoyed the sea of collectors who would walk right past them without batting an eye as there was nothing but a book for sale. That's a great helmet. Met several of these guys at the opening of the D-Day museum in NOLA

Those are some great experiences you have. Thanks for sharing!

[M24 Chaffee]

That’s a very cool helmet to feature in a collection!

 

Frank

[mdk0911]

great helmet - looks like some of those pictures are from the Reading PA  WWII air show?

[akriener]

great helmet - looks like some of those pictures are from the Reading PA  WWII air show?

They were gathered over 15 years so I'm sure it was at that one a few times.


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[Pudgy (V)]

Nice helmet!!!  Looks like a lot of the signatures are from Reading.  Not sure how they got Dick Winter's signature though, I don't believe I've ever seen him there, and he rarely signed stuff other than prints for Valor Studios. 

[akriener]

Just now, Pudgy (V) said:

Nice helmet!!!  Looks like a lot of the signatures are from Reading.  Not sure how they got Dick Winter's signature though, I don't believe I've ever seen him there, and he rarely signed stuff other than prints for Valor Studios. 

 

I can't speak to Dick Winters, though I know it's authentic. Remember this helmet was owned for 15 years living in the same town as him so many he made a connection that way. I also believe one of the signatures may be Bert Winzer and the unknown Malmedy Massacre one is now confirmed as George Fox as per https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1QZX5T/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_LPU5Eb8NDZR79 He is the very top signature on this item

[HattonWWII]

Great helmet, congratulations on a real jaw dropper in your collection. Many great men signed this helmet. Very cool

 

[manayunkman]

Who was the collector in PA?

 

Dick Winters signed several things for me and used Hang Tough each time.

[akriener]

5 hours ago, manayunkman said:

Who was the collector in PA?

 

Dick Winters signed several things for me and used Hang Tough each time.

I'm not sure. I got it from someone who got it from the guy in PA. Don't know how long the last guy owned it. The research I've done is that Dick Winters only signed Hang Tough.

[Buckshot]

Very nice.