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M1 Helmet: Sergeant on the outside, captain on the inside - I need your opinions


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I recently acquired this front seam fixed bail M1 helmet I would appreciate your opinions on. It has a black insignia on the front, either SGT or SFC, depending on how you interpret the pattern (pictures below). On the inside, it is named "Capt. J. R. Bennett" (not sure at all when the writing was done). Originally I thought the rank marking was faded away but after inspection I realized that it was over-painted and partly came through again (friction from cover?). How likely do you guys think it is that this helmet was first worn by an unknown sergeant and when it moved on to Capt. Bennett, the rank insignia got over-painted? Or is the writing a recent add without any meaning?

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Details of the front, on the first pic you see the black coming through under the re-paint, on the second one you see what could be two nearly horizontal stripes still under the paint?

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Looks like a Master Sergeant had it. It was over painted and over painted and over painted..... and eventually a Captain picked it up. Very cool helmet ! Fixed bail too ! Its a shame though that it looks as if someone tried exposing the NCO Stripes with sand paper.

 

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Burning Hazard

Nice helmet! Likely belonged to an NCO before being re-issued to an officer, it's not uncommon to see WWII shells with two or more ID's.

 

Also your shell is Schlueter made based on the rounded bails..

 

I have a very similar one except it's a black T/4 rank

 

Pat

IMG_5746.JPG

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On 12/24/2020 at 3:43 AM, The Rooster said:

Looks like a Master Sergeant had it. It was over painted and over painted and over painted..... and eventually a Captain picked it up. Very cool helmet ! Fixed bail too ! Its a shame though that it looks as if someone tried exposing the NCO Stripes with sand paper.

 

 

Thank you very much Rooster. You are right, somebody in the chain of previous owners worked with sand paper unfortunately, it was not simple friction as I originally thought.

 

Merry Christmas to all,

Karsten

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On 12/24/2020 at 4:23 AM, Burning Hazard said:

Nice helmet! Likely belonged to an NCO before being re-issued to an officer, it's not uncommon to see WWII shells with two or more ID's.

 

Also your shell is Schlueter made based on the rounded bails..

 

I have a very similar one except it's a black T/4 rank

 

Pat

IMG_5746.JPG

 

Thank you Pat. Yours is a pretty cool one, with the markings less damaged :-)

 

And thank you very much for the hint with the bails, I was not sure about the helmet being a Schlueter - Still rookie :-)

 

Does the black color indicate a period of usage or would this be too vague as criteria?

 

Karsten

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Burning Hazard

I was looking through different period photos and saw black painted rank insignia being used in Italy during WWII. Also the Brazilian Expeditionary Force used black ranks as well. If anyone else can chime in on black painted ranks that would be awesome.

 

Pat

5AA01432-B1D9-4816-AE17-65EBEB26E8D0.jpeg

0B8B63D9-744E-44C3-AC96-4D8417D08619.jpeg

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 12/25/2020 at 7:18 PM, Burning Hazard said:

I was looking through different period photos and saw black painted rank insignia being used in Italy during WWII. Also the Brazilian Expeditionary Force used black ranks as well. If anyone else can chime in on black painted ranks that would be awesome.

 

Pat

5AA01432-B1D9-4816-AE17-65EBEB26E8D0.jpeg

0B8B63D9-744E-44C3-AC96-4D8417D08619.jpeg

 

Thank you very much for sharing these pictures Pat, the style of the insignia indeed looks quite similar to the one on my helmet.

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Black painted ranks are most likely Korean War era. I have a black painted rank helmet as well, and it seems like the general consensus I’ve found is they are Korean War era. The paint on this helmet looks like that seen on a lot of Korean War helmets as well in my experience. I’m sure some black painted ranks existed in WW2, and without provenance it’s anyone’s guess, but this does sort of have that Korean War era look from my experience.

Hunt


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13 hours ago, huntssurplus said:

Black painted ranks are most likely Korean War era. I have a black painted rank helmet as well, and it seems like the general consensus I’ve found is they are Korean War era. The paint on this helmet looks like that seen on a lot of Korean War helmets as well in my experience. I’m sure some black painted ranks existed in WW2, and without provenance it’s anyone’s guess, but this does sort of have that Korean War era look from my experience.

Hunt


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Thank you very much, Hunt, for your clarification. I guess it won't be a surprise for anybody that I would have been more excited about MTO or BEF but I agree to your statement, common sense says Korean War era helmet in this case. Especially as there is zero provenience (seller told me that previous owner was an army veteran who was singer in a country band in Germany who left the helmet behind when moving back to the States). Couldn't find any reference for "Capt. J. R. Bennett" either, who might have been last regular owner of this piece.

 

Karsten

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Just for clarity, generally speaking US Army rank stripes are called Chevrons on top and Rockers underneath, so 5 stripes (a Tech Sergeant in WW2) is 3 chevrons above 2 rockers. 

If this helmet hadn't been damaged in WW2, it could have been issued during Korea in this configuration while refurbished helmets of that era would have been fitted with swivel loops and OD7 green straps. 

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