BEAST Posted October 23, 2015 #51 Posted October 23, 2015 Outstanding! It's great being able to put a face to the name. So is it too greedy to ask for a photo of him wearing the helmet?
sgtdorango Posted October 23, 2015 #52 Posted October 23, 2015 Now Scott has to build a top shelf to go on top of his top shelf to display this helmet!!....mike
alberto1361 Posted October 23, 2015 #53 Posted October 23, 2015 Very intresting helmet, congratulations. Also Ernest Hemingway was an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross in Italy during ww1and used it too. I wonder if they met?
USdog Posted October 23, 2015 #54 Posted October 23, 2015 Awesome helmet.... I was able to find an AFS members photo as well that I have the dog tag of through their website.
Bugme Posted October 24, 2015 Author #55 Posted October 24, 2015 Outstanding! It's great being able to put a face to the name. So is it too greedy to ask for a photo of him wearing the helmet? That would be amazing however, it only took me 5 years to track down a photo of him from when he joined the AFS, maybe in another 5 years????? Thanks for all the input guys!
Bugme Posted October 24, 2015 Author #56 Posted October 24, 2015 Thats a great catch. I knew that they had existed but I've never seen one or even a picture of one in colour!! Excellent. Rob Here's an AFS volunteer wearing his badged Adrian in the trench.
AustinO Posted October 25, 2015 #58 Posted October 25, 2015 UPDATE: It's been a few years since I originally posted this helmet but, because of some research that I saw on another forum about the AFS, I was able to track down photo's today of John Aubrey Gordon! I am jazzed to say the least!!! Scott, have you run him through Ancestry? I once found a photo of an AFS driver on his 1917 passport application. Also stated something along the lines of "Reason for leaving the US: volunteering in the AFS, France."
TheMariner Posted October 25, 2015 #59 Posted October 25, 2015 Wow this helmet is a beauty and that photo adds so much more to the story behind the helmet. Hope you can find some more info!!
RustyCanteen Posted October 25, 2015 #60 Posted October 25, 2015 Nice work getting the photo Scott! It's always great to put a face to history. It always turns up with persistence.
Bugme Posted October 26, 2015 Author #61 Posted October 26, 2015 Scott, have you run him through Ancestry? I once found a photo of an AFS driver on his 1917 passport application. Also stated something along the lines of "Reason for leaving the US: volunteering in the AFS, France." I got a ton of stuff from Ancestry from his "after" war activities as an attorney and mayor but, none included a photo. I am researching AFS to find some possible war time photo's from his T.M.U. Nice work getting the photo Scott! It's always great to put a face to history. It always turns up with persistence. I had honestly pretty much given up RC but, you're right, it was that one last shot in the dark and TADA!
Maple Creek Posted February 11, 2018 #62 Posted February 11, 2018 Since 2010 when Scott bought the helmet at the start of this thread from Bay State Militaria, I've been on the lookout for one like it. A few days ago I found one! This came from a man who was from Elkhart, Indiana. He said it had been in his family since before WWII, but did not know any more about the history of the piece, or anything about the person whose name is scratched in the rear visor, “R.T. HANKS.” As it turns out, there is a Raymond Theodore Hanks who appears on the roster for American Field Service volunteers from the First World War. Further research uncovered an AFS service record. Hanks served with the AFS in France from June 20th to October 9th 1917 in unit Transport Material Unit (TMU) 133. He was a 23 year old graduate of Western Reserve University. His address on record was Cleveland, OH, which is only 240 miles from Elkhart, IN where the helmet was stored for many years. The Transport Material Units functioned similar to the Ambulance units, but instead of bringing wounded from the front they drove trucks with ammunition, food, and other supplies to the front. According to available records, Raymond Hanks was rejected for service in the US Army after his "liberation" from AFS service. Apparently not one to give up easily, he volunteered for service in the French army and was training for artillery service at the Ecole Militaire at Fountainbleau near war’s end in October of 1918. During the Second World War he was listed as a representative to the AFS. Mark D.
kanemono Posted February 11, 2018 #67 Posted February 11, 2018 Amazing helmet and research! Thanks. Dick
USMC-RECON0321 Posted February 11, 2018 #68 Posted February 11, 2018 Now that is what I love to see, an great helmet with provenance and research to back it up. Well done!
36thIDAlex Posted February 12, 2018 #70 Posted February 12, 2018 WOW! Awesome to see more of these extremely valuable and hard to find helmets surface. These are very important to the story of Americans in the first World War. Awesome find and great story!
Bugme Posted February 12, 2018 Author #71 Posted February 12, 2018 I love the AFS, they kept such awesome records! This helmet belonging to Hanks is another fine example of the great sacrifice by the all volunteer AFS college students who answered the call before the U.S. got involved in WWI. However, those students were back at, albeit in smaller numbers, when the AFS returned as WWII started to ramp up. Below is the helmet I acquired which belonged to WWII AFS driver, Bertrand Hutchinson. Again, AFS archives are astounding for doing research.
Maple Creek Posted February 13, 2018 #73 Posted February 13, 2018 Great to see this extremely rare helmet! What else do we know about Hutchinson? Did you actually meet him? What does the interior look like? -Mark D.
Bugme Posted February 13, 2018 Author #74 Posted February 13, 2018 Great to see this extremely rare helmet! What else do we know about Hutchinson? Did you actually meet him? What does the interior look like? -Mark D. I wish I had met him but, this helmet came out of a storage unit that was inherited by the nephew of the guy who stored it there. The nephew informed me that his uncle was an antique horder so, no idea how he got it. The liner is mostly eaten away but, Hutchinsons name is on the inside brim.
huntssurplus Posted February 15, 2018 #75 Posted February 15, 2018 Really great helmets! Thanks for sharing! Hunt
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