strawberry 9 Posted March 10, 2022 Share #1 Posted March 10, 2022 I recently was lucky enough to buy a footlocker grouping which included the following helmet. The locker belonged to William R. Oswald ASN: 37039925. It includes many photographs, German souvenirs, letters, typical footlocker items, SSI, newspapers/magazines, ribbons/medals, and field gear. The helmet, of course, was the main item that attracted me. I'm still doing research, but William enlisted in 1941 at the age of 29 with the 3rd Armored Division. By 1944, he was with the ESB and participated in the D-Day landings. He has a EAMES ribbon with two campaign stars and an arrowhead. He also was awarded the Asiatic ribbon, which makes me think he was attached to the 1st Engineer Special Brigade as they were the only ones to participate in both theatres. They were involved in the Okinawa invasion. Nothing pops up on NARA with his ASN, which makes me think that his record was one of the ones lost in the fire. I also have two bracelets with his name and ASN on them. This is a recent purchase so there is still lots of research to do. I did want to share the helmet though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberry 9 Posted March 10, 2022 Author Share #2 Posted March 10, 2022 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberry 9 Posted March 10, 2022 Author Share #3 Posted March 10, 2022 Inside shell and liner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberry 9 Posted March 10, 2022 Author Share #4 Posted March 10, 2022 William R. Oswald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberry 9 Posted March 10, 2022 Author Share #5 Posted March 10, 2022 Grave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ww2collector1944 Posted March 10, 2022 Share #6 Posted March 10, 2022 amazing find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMPETE Posted March 10, 2022 Share #7 Posted March 10, 2022 WOW. Congratulations. What a great set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbmilitaria Posted March 11, 2022 Share #8 Posted March 11, 2022 One of the best helmet finds I've seen this year. Congratulations!! Would love to see photos of the entire group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberry 9 Posted March 11, 2022 Author Share #9 Posted March 11, 2022 1 minute ago, bbmilitaria said: One of the best helmet finds I've seen this year. Congratulations!! Would love to see photos of the entire group. I will photograph the rest. I've been going through it and putting it into protective sleeves and such. I'll try and photograph it all when the lighting is better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmar836 Posted March 11, 2022 Share #10 Posted March 11, 2022 Awesome! I'd like to see it all as well. That's a lot of WWII experience! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elh1311 Posted March 11, 2022 Share #11 Posted March 11, 2022 They don't get much better than this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdk0911 Posted March 11, 2022 Share #12 Posted March 11, 2022 damn that's a great set - well done!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueprint Posted March 11, 2022 Share #13 Posted March 11, 2022 Wow! What a find! Very lucky! And a great piece overall! Cant wait to see the all of the pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David D Posted March 11, 2022 Share #14 Posted March 11, 2022 Beautiful set, congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M24 Chaffee Posted March 11, 2022 Share #15 Posted March 11, 2022 Nice helmet and an exciting find! Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigschuss Posted March 11, 2022 Share #16 Posted March 11, 2022 A solid find. Congrats. Was it a footlocker direct from the family? Or from another collector? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosieres64 Posted March 11, 2022 Share #17 Posted March 11, 2022 WOW!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberry 9 Posted March 11, 2022 Author Share #18 Posted March 11, 2022 13 minutes ago, bigschuss said: A solid find. Congrats. Was it a footlocker direct from the family? Or from another collector? It came from an old family friend. The locker was given to the father of the person I bought it from in the 70's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmd62 Posted March 11, 2022 Share #19 Posted March 11, 2022 Simply amazing, congrats!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigschuss Posted March 11, 2022 Share #20 Posted March 11, 2022 2 hours ago, strawberry 9 said: It came from an old family friend. The locker was given to the father of the person I bought it from in the 70's. Outstanding. I used to run ads in the 90's up through 2010 or so. Finds like these were decently common. Not so much anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilitaryPicker1941 Posted March 11, 2022 Share #21 Posted March 11, 2022 Beautiful helmet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PQD Posted April 7, 2022 Share #22 Posted April 7, 2022 Congratulations!!! That is just crazy-good! I have not seen such a superb ESB helmet/liner set change hands in a long time, and named and with a photo is just goo on the cake. You rocked this one … Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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