Top Left MOLLUS? 

My sister and I recently went on a trip to explore a few sites related to my Mother’s side of the family (she passed away in 1983)……back in her years as a young adolescent woman in the early 1940s, my Mom and her sister were looked after by an African-American woman named Delia, whom they loved dearly. In 1943 or ‘44 Delia suddenly died of a cerebral hemorrhage, and my Mom and Aunt were both terribly upset over the sudden loss.   Fast-forward to 2025, where my sister and I went on a quest to try and find where Delia was buried, and for all intents and purposes we think we did. Through records we had located we had the name of the cemetery where she was supposed to be but weren’t exactly sure what we’d find if anything…..through literally asking people in their front yards if they’d heard of this cemetery, we were able to find it (or what was left of it), a cemetery for African-American people of the town……..it sets on a tree-covered hillside, and basically has been lost to time.   As we searched and looked at markers I came across a military marker with the same last name as Delia’s, of a man named John Early (spelt ‘ERLY’ on the marker, more on that in a minute)…….it also indicated he served as a PVT in the 10th Regt. of Cavalry, and died in 1937. At first I thought I was looking at a WW1 Veteran’s marker, and I took some pics and eventually we said our goodbye to our friends that were helping us and headed back to our hotel….we didn’t see a marker for Delia, but I was certain this was the place and she was here, somewhere.   Once back at the hotel I began researching what I had seen and it turns out that PVT John Early was Delia’s husband, and he was a real 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldier, enlisting less than a year after the unit took part in the Battle of San Juan Hill, and was attached to Troop F……While he wasn’t part of that battle, it’s possible he took part the deployment during the Philippine Insurrection, but I’m still working on that. If anyone has info on rosters of Troop F I’d love to see them.   I believe Delia is resting next to her husband, although no marker is present……   So why was his name spelt ‘ERLY’ on his marker..? Simply because that’s the info the Army had on file, and that’s what they used, and here is a pic of the marker registration— even though the correct spelling was either Early or Earley. I never thought I’d run into the resting place of a real Buffalo Soldier while I was doing this stuff, but here you go. Thanks for looking.  

The brand new chin straps on the steel are sewn on in a rather funky manner. ITs brand new looking. The whole thing. From the paint to the riveted leather chinstrap in a 70's 80's liner to the glued in pads.. the whole dam thing! Dont know how anyone would be fooled by it but you never know. If, its a ww2 rear seam.... Its had an Earl Schieb Paint job! lol To be fair, there are some helmets I have been totally wrong about. But Im confident that this aint one of those.

If I'm not mistaken England had one of the first Civil Defense programs during WW2, and probably the hardest hit. Mabey some type of makeshift Air Raid Warden helmet.

Can anyone please give me the recipient for my NYS Conspicuous Service medal #6171 -   Thank you

Helmets are always fun to find.

I’m with yokota57. It appears to be slapped together without consideration for the correct unit insignia. 

Just a guess but mabey the heat lot was rejected and the helmet was repurposed for civilian defense. Here is a pic of one of my Civilian Defense helmets.

What's the link to the fourth Cavalry group with the DUI being on the garrison cap? What was the relation to the fourth Cavalry Recon group in relation to the 83rd and 84th infantry divisions?

Appears to be a US Coast Guard Crest someone stuck on after the fact. Not what I would expect to see on a US Army lighter. Hmmm...I will pass.