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Engineer Special Brigade (ESB) named helmet.


strawberry 9
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strawberry 9

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.  

IMG_6545.JPG

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bbmilitaria

One of the best helmet finds I've seen this year. Congratulations!! Would love to see photos of the entire group.

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strawberry 9
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.  

 

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strawberry 9
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.  

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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.  

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

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 …

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