Civilian War Correspondents M1 Helmet and liner

[The Rooster]

Greetings everyone.

This helmet appears to be a civilian war correspondents helmet and liner, along with the arm band and maybe a patch ?

 

After some researching into war correspondents of the 20th century I found this Man.

Robert Lopez Flynn.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Flynn_(author)

 

Early life and education

Flynn joined the Marines and served for two years during the Korea War era. In 1954, he received drama degree from Baylor University. In 1970, during the Vietnam War, Flynn embedded with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines as a civilian war correspondent for two months.[

 

The liner has the initials RLF on the back and Robert Lopez Flynn is the only match to a War Correspondent with those initials so, I think

this is his helmet he wore in Vietnam for 2 months.

Cannot prove it..... Yet...... But its a good bet.

The armband and what I think is a patch come with the helmet.

 

Cheers !

[The Rooster]

Mr Flynn has written many books and this one that I am ordering...

 

A Personal War in Vietnam (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series)

 

By Mr Robert Lopez Flynn

 

"Robert Flynn was himself in Vietnam as a war correspondent, but his contemporaneous account of the two months he spent with Golf Company, Fifth Marines, reports a facet of the war that went largely unreported by the mass media.

Golf Company was composed of CUPP teams--a Marine squad and attached Navy corpsmen in the Combined Unit Pacification Program. CUPP teams were stationed in remote Vietnamese villes, tiny hamlets whose civilians the CUPP teams trained and assisted in protecting their homes from the Viet Cong. The men of Golf Company were without the backup of other U.S. forces; they had no barbed wire or bunkers and day and night had to move every few hours to avoid being pinned down. As pacification teams, they worked with villagers on a one-to-one basis, helping improve gardens and livestock, providing medical care, and putting in such facilities as community houses and water wells. It was a personal war; CUPP soldiers got to know and had to know the individuals of the villes, because an outsider or unease in the ville could mean Viet Cong were in the area.

Upon his return from Vietnam in 1971, the author wrote this account of his experiences with Golf Company, in their firefights and in their quiet moments, and his impressions of the men and their work. In the context of the early 1970s, the resulting manuscript was not the kind of copy sought by any faction in the Vietnam crisis going on at home. It has been published without the polish of hindsight, and in its original, unrevised form, it provides a clear window to the villes and booby-trapped jungles and the conversations and impressions they evoked. "

 

 

 

 

"Mr. Flynn's creative work "North to Yesterday," was published in 1967 and in 1968 was named by The New York Times as one of the best 20 books of fiction published in 1967. True Magazine also named it as one of the best books of the year. Mr. Flynn sent a clipping of that review to the editor of True Magazine saying that he would like to go to Vietnam as a correspondent for their magazine. They agreed and Mr. Flynn was in Vietnam in the last part of 1970 and the first part of 1971. True Magazine failed before it published any of his stories. The stories he wrote about the CUPP (Combined Unit Pacification Program) Marines were published later as a memoir, "A Personal War in Vietnam."

In 1989. during the embargo, Mr. Flynn returned to Vietnam and to the Area of Operation of the CUPP Marines to interview the Vietnamese who supported the Marines and fought alongside them and those who fought against the Marines and those in the infrastructure that served the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.

After the embargo was lifted he returned to Vietnam in 1994 on the first American cruise to Vietnamese along with veterans whose stories were known and reporters whose names and stories were known to the American public. There were also two Vietnamese Americans, one born in Saigon who escaped to Thailand and one born in Hanoi who escaped to Hong Kong. "

[aznation]

Wow Dave!  What a great civilian war correspondent's helmet and patches.  That awesome that you were able to find out who it belonged to and some history of the man to whom it belonged.  I don't know how you manage to snag some of the more unusual helmets that I've seen on the forum but I hope you find more.  That's a very interesting story about CUPP Marines too.  I've never heard of them, so learned something new.  Thanks for sharing this with us.

[The Rooster]

3 hours ago, aznation said:

Wow Dave!  What a great civilian war correspondent's helmet and patches.  That awesome that you were able to find out who it belonged to and some history of the man to whom it belonged.  I don't know how you manage to snag some of the more unusual helmets that I've seen on the forum but I hope you find more.  That's a very interesting story about CUPP Marines too.  I've never heard of them, so learned something new.  Thanks for sharing this with us.

 

Hey thank you Matt! I wrote Mr Flynn a letter and I'm hoping to hear back from him.

Funny how these things we collect lead to bigger stories.

Thank you friend.

 

Dave

[644td]

Nice grouping and looking forward to possibly seeing the helmet linked to Mr. Flynn.

 

marty

[sgtdorango]

Very interesting helmet liner👍🏻....mike

[willysmb44]

Wow, very different from the other Nam era civilian correspondent helmets I've seen. 

Very interesting, just goes to show the random nature of correspondent marked items in any era.

Thanks for sharing!

[The Rooster]

11 hours ago, willysmb44 said:

Wow, very different from the other Nam era civilian correspondent helmets I've seen. 

Very interesting, just goes to show the random nature of correspondent marked items in any era.

Thanks for sharing!

 Than you for commenting on this. Do you feel its a genuine Correspondent helmet?

I have no reason to think its a fake or for that matter why anyone would fake such a thing. I think it was worn

by Mr Flynn. I got the helmet in today. I'l post some new images later today.

Thank you.

Dave

[The Rooster]

Here are my pics of the helmet.

The liner has a Vietnam era sweat band.

I cant find any other markings on it other than the initials on the back.

[conn]

wow

 

fantastic find

glad it will still be cherished and preserved by the collector world

 

semper fi

[The Rooster]

I finished Mr Flynns book. A Personal War In Vietnam.

It is very good. I recommend it. It reads like Something written by Tregaskis or Pyle.

He is right in with the troops and even went on some flights in a Huey gunship.

I finished it and wished it was a little longer because it was hard to put down.

Unfortunately I have had zero luck in hearing back from Mr Flynn concerning this helmet.

I'm still hoping he will take a look and get back to me one way or another as to whether this

helmet here is the one he wore in Vietnam.

Anyhow, A Personal War In Vietnam is definitely worth the read

 

[sgtdorango]

How have you tried to contact him?......mike

[The Rooster]

7 minutes ago, sgtdorango said:

How have you tried to contact him?......mike

Hi Mike,

Yes , he has his own website and there is a contact option and Ive written him several times

and included the link to this post. I have asked him if would mind taking a look and letting me know if it

is his old helmet. I tried again earlier today. No dice yet.

Dave

[sgtdorango]

Nice!..ihope he gets back to you soon👍🏻.....mike

[The Rooster]

By Golly I heard back from Mr Flynn today !

He said that unfortunately, he just wore a standard helmet with a cloth cover in Vietnam.

He also said that it is very possible that one of the Marines in one of the units he visited,

possibly made it for him and was un able to catch up to him again to give it to him.

He said he was moving alot from unit to unit.

He said that it was quite the coincidence.

There was only one correspondent in Vietnam with the initials RLF and Mr Flynn is that Man.

I asked Mr Flynn if I could post his letter to me here and will post it if he

gives me the go ahead ! He is also looking for anyone who served in the CUPP Program

in the Marine Corps in Vietnam.

Hopefully more info to come.

Mr Flynn is working on another book  on the CUPP Marines.

If you served in the program or know anyone who did, please send me a PM

Thank you.

[The Rooster]

I ended up giving this helmet to Mr Flynn.

He is happy to have it.

[conn]

you are a good man 

[The Rooster]

Thank you Sir.

I really think Mr Flynns theory on this helmet is correct. That a Marine got the helmet and painted the liner and secured the patch and arm band

but was never able to catch back up with Mr Flynn before he left Vietnam.

Prob came back in a Marines sea bag and wound up down the road where I found it on ebay?

Its not provable but makes sense as Robert Lopez Flynn was the only Correspondant in Vietnam during the war with the initials

RLF. It all makes sense to me and stranger things have happened and I think the lid finally made it home to its rightful owner.

I recommend Bobs book on the CUPP Marines in Vietnam.

 

 

[Paddyd00]

On 1/3/2023 at 12:43 AM, The Rooster said:

I ended up giving this helmet to Mr Flynn.

He is happy to have it.

I missed this thread. Very nice David. Good man. And cool lid. Sounds like you made a friend in the process. 

Z