Hi, my name is Jesse and I'm a highschool student from California. I'm a barely beginning USMC collector! I usually just archive photos from the Pacific Theatre but I hope to build a collection of gear and patches, specifically from the first and second Gulf War. I look forward to getting to know all of you :D

Thanks- but just a "tad"? Our "new" (we've been there for 5 years now) shop on 97th street is 3000ft2 with 2000ft of warehouse space! 😄 Hope to see you soon!

Interesting that the repro costs more than an original.    I hope you all have a great D-Day day!  mikie

That’s a fantastic dio. Amazing attention to detail.  mikie

Nice.  I've never seen one of those sweatbands.   Steve 

From first hand accounts a lot of m1cs then the DOD started purchasing 70s 

Here is another pair. B&B Militaria had several pairs, and the pictures I've posted were from another site which sold a bulk lot of 16 pairs.

Reviving this because I've come across several of these pairs. I've seen them listed as "pre-WWII" before, but without any primary sources, I'm at a loss.

You are incredibly talented with these!

Following up:  USN helmets, served as long as they lasted. I had front seam, fixed bale helmets on my first ship in 1972. Helmets would be issued to a ship. They would stay with that ship as long as they lasted. They may be replaced, by helmets from “Salvage”. That was a depot, where, when a ship was decommissioned, all that sort of stuff was turned into. Basically, a ship would send a group of guys and a truck over and pick out however many they needed to replace losses. Other times, when a ship was being decommissioned, there would be a day, when the crews from other ships could go over and grab up everything they needed. This was also a way to replace lost helmets. With Navy helmets, don’t get hung up on numbers and such. That just tells you when it was made. It could have sat in storage for years. Bounced from ship to ship for decades. Even on a ship, it could move from station to station, getting repainted with different colors and markings.