Need Help Identifying Unit Insignia on WWI USMC 6th Marine Regiment Helmet

[TXMarine81]

Hello everyone. I’m seeking assistance on identifying the unit of my recently acquired WWI USMC 6th Marine Regiment M-1917 helmet. It doesn’t have an attached EGA, but it does have the diamond logo of either 1st Battalion/6th Marines (red diamond) or Machine Gun Company, 6th Marines (purple diamond). However, the hue of the painted diamond could be either red or purple, depending on how you look at it and factor in fading over time, quality of period paint, etc. I’ve provided pics of the logo at different angles and lighting to try to assist.

 

I did not find a name, but the chin strap is stamped “E 315” in a way that I’ve not seen and looks like it was done with a dog tag letter/number punch or embossing tool. The 6th Machine Gun Battalion was divided into four companies, with the 15th attached to 3/6 and 81st attached to 2/6 (23rd attached to 2/5; 77th attached to 3/5). So the “315” portion led to me think that it could possibly be the 15th Machine Gun Company that was attached to 3rd Battalion/6th Marines – so “3 (Battalion) 15 (Machine Gun Company). But that is just an absolute guess on my part.

 

Any help or clues would be most appreciated. Thank you!

 

-Preston    

[warguy]

My vote is purple making it the 73rd company. I’ll PM you with some more details. Kevin

[War Party]

 Very nice! Shame you don’t know who it belonged to.

[gearhead1968]

It sure looks purple to me, nice find!