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M1C with 48th Div Markings


Nickman983
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So this is a bit of an interesting one. Just got it in the mail and figured I'd share it here since I could use some help making sense of the markings.

 

The helmet is a late WWII produced M1C with a heat stamp of 1158E I believe.  The liner is a late WWII Firestone that's been rigger modified for airborne use.

 

Both the helmet and liner have received the same paint job. Marked with a 1st Lt. Bar, a 48th Infantry Division insignia on the wearer's right side, a small white stripe with the number "51" in red above it on the rear, and some black/yellow marking on the wear's right. The 48th infantry division was a national guard unit from 1946 to 1955 before being reorganized as the 48th armored division. The 48th used the red/white star beteen 1949 and 1955.

 

The helmet is marked to two soldiers, Sgt. Earlton Deans and Ronnie Thompson.

 

I believe the helmet originally belonged to Earlton Deans. His name/serial number seem to be present under the repaint. From what I've been able to see, it looks like Earlton Deans had several stints in the army, Enlisted in 1946, was discharged in 1947, then enlisted again in 1950, discharged in November of 1951, and then enlisted again in December of 1951 and was discharged in 1962. I was also able to find a newspaper article of an accident he was involved in that indicates he was stationed at Fort Bragg in 1952.

 

As for Ronnie Thompson I haven't had any luck so far. On top of having his name under the brim of the helmet, his last name is also painted faintly on the brim of the liner, above where another name was previously painted.

 

My suspicion is that Mr. Thompson was a member of the 48th Div but without any additional information I haven't been able to confirm this.

 

There's a few things on this helmet I need help making sense of. First would be the white marking on the rear and the black/yellow marking on the left side. I'm not sure if the marking on the rear is meant to be a sort of shortened follow me bar or if there might be another meaning behind it and I haven't found anything on the marking on the wearer's left just yet.

 

I'm also  unsure why the M1c chinstraps/liner A-yolks would have remained on the helmet after it was no longer being used by an airborne unit.

 

If anyone has any insight on either of those topics I would love to hear it!

 

PXL_20221108_025909791.jpg.ae271f33d95c69beacb4bad181f3ff41.jpg1975237014_PXL_20221108_030243076-Copy.jpg.82a4af5aba4c935790987a8a68ddaa41.jpg1991545846_PXL_20221108_030453274-Copy.jpg.78c42bd834299de3c4525cd7ca5413c1.jpg1137814642_PXL_20221108_030529034-Copy.jpg.2982d69ca4754add50b33893f39a8a64.jpg209069577_PXL_20221108_030716882-Copy.jpg.2530e07199f87e7a5bcc0dcc9ce6bc06.jpg1736455894_PXL_20221108_030728430-Copy.jpg.a93c2ad6de45572e150911b96e0b1a8c.jpg233558173_PXL_20221108_030743364-Copy.jpg.2129d18aa14e77b21b25d5a59a1172db.jpg364458203_PXL_20221108_030801169-Copy.jpg.650a2c5503490e1e99f5b56b938d231c.jpg

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Here's the article on Deans I had mentioned. Beyond this the only article I could find was a possible family members obituary, and maybe a clipping on the birth of a son, but that was in Alaska so I'm not sure it's the same person.

1095060907_EarltonDeansaccident.jpg.4d21440015e06b2b00c4b7afb370bdff.jpg

 

Also of interest is this clipping I found when doing a little searching on the 48th Div. This is from 1949 and shows a recruit wearing either a helmet or liner with the 48th divisions insignia on it. It appears to be the same size/placement as the ones found on my helmet/liner.

1038733730_48thDivHelmet.jpg.4ab5904c04133dae19484bb0fac20390.jpg

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I was looking at this helmet as well. Two guesses from me then: first, one of them was a paratrooper at Bragg and took the helmet with them when they went to the National Guard. Two, many units issued out paratrooper helmets for parade use as they were a better fit and didn't shift around like non-paratrooper helmets. 

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4 hours ago, elh1311 said:

I was looking at this helmet as well. Two guesses from me then: first, one of them was a paratrooper at Bragg and took the helmet with them when they went to the National Guard. Two, many units issued out paratrooper helmets for parade use as they were a better fit and didn't shift around like non-paratrooper helmets. 

 

Thanks for the insight. I believe the Fort Bragg connection is there with Earlton Deans based on that newspaper clipping I found. After 1952 though I'm not sure where his service took him so I'm not sure he transfered to a guard unit but it's possible. His grave is in Florida so he may have stayed in the area the 48th drew men from.

 

I think the parade use makes sense as well. I'll have to do more searching on the 48th and see if I can't find more examples of their painted helmets in period photos.

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12 minutes ago, Nickman983 said:

 

Thanks for the insight. I believe the Fort Bragg connection is there with Earlton Deans based on that newspaper clipping I found. After 1952 though I'm not sure where his service took him so I'm not sure he transfered to a guard unit but it's possible. His grave is in Florida so he may have stayed in the area the 48th drew men from.

 

I think the parade use makes sense as well. I'll have to do more searching on the 48th and see if I can't find more examples of their painted helmets in period photos.

It's a really neat helmet. I had planned to bid on it but completely lost track of time. It's interesting that it's done up in NG colors (48th was Florida and Georgia) but his service number is RA. This kind of makes think that Deans took this helmet from active duty with him to the NG, the second service number being the soldier who had the helmet before him. I don't know, just speculating. Great helmet though!

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46 minutes ago, elh1311 said:

It's a really neat helmet. I had planned to bid on it but completely lost track of time. It's interesting that it's done up in NG colors (48th was Florida and Georgia) but his service number is RA. This kind of makes think that Deans took this helmet from active duty with him to the NG, the second service number being the soldier who had the helmet before him. I don't know, just speculating. Great helmet though!

Thanks! I almost missed this one as well but thankfully I remembered to bid before it ended this time haha. That might be possible however, there seems to be a name painted on the liner in white that was rubbed out and Thompson painted his name in black under the brim which is why I suspect him to be the second owner. It's very hard to read but using a blacklight makes it easier to see. Unfortunately he didn't write his serial number so I haven't been able to track him down yet.

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Thanks Mike! May not be directly airborne related but it's still a real looker. Glad to finally add another WWII produced M1c to the collection.

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  • 4 months later...

Ended up digging through some more articles and found more examples of 48th Division marked helmets/liners from the period. Seems to me like this might have been used somewhere 1949-1950 based on what I'm seeing in photos. Seems like the 48th initially started out with insignias on the front of their helmets for a short period before transitioning to the side. Likewise, it seems that paint was used early on before decals started appearing.

 

Officers of the 124th Infantry Regiment, 48th Infantry Division July 28th 1949

124thIR48thIDofficers07-27-1949.jpg.bfd5682e8725bc4b12fda524f08e8d52.jpg

 

Members of the 48th ID in August of 1949

48thDivisionReview08-05-1949.jpg.986f15d918789643b061b327710d8eea.jpg

 

Members of the 122nd Infantry Regiment, 48th Division July 26th 1949 Regimental insignia looks to be decals but can't say for certain on unit

48thDivision122ndInfantry7-26-1949.jpg.1c8e8231b27edcdc90bc289a544121d3.jpg

 

Training in August of 1950. Clearly decals. 48th insignia shows up on both right and left sides of the liner here.

48thDivisionBattlePlans08-01-1950.jpg.7c4b2eb4cd47c42731b871a3e01c43f5.jpg

 

Looks to be helmets here in June of 1954

48thRifleTeam06-20-1954.jpg.8f3999a016602ee2a8fc76951b1e54b0.jpg

 

Leaving for summer training in July of 1951

48thsummertraining7-8-1951.jpg.b6b8154843bfaba2cf3b6df2eb9e4405.jpg

 

I was able to find a bunch more but these were some of the more interesting ones when it came to variations/scale of use. I didn't see any obvious airborne lids like the one in this thread, though there was only one article I could find showing the 48th in parade and that mostly was just of the band walking by with white painted liners. While the wearer's left side was often adorned with regimental insignia I still haven't found anything matching the marking on this helmet.

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