Rest in Peace Eric, our Condolences to the family! And thank you for everything.   Tony

I never met him personally (that I know of) but I cherish many of his works as the "go to" source of information of the subject matter. Rest in Peace, Sir.

Aloha AJS, welcome to the forum   The "91" after the DLA is the year (i.e. 1991)   REPOST for new collectors and members   Using Contract Numbers to Determine Dates on Military Gear   All United States Military clothing & gear is made with a tag or stamp that contains the contract number. By following the numbering system you can easily figure out the year and sometimes even month your item was made. The first step is to find out if you have a DA, DSA, DLA, or SPO Contract Number. DA ( Defense Agency) - from 1953 to 1961 DSA (Defense Supply Agency) - from 1962 to 1977 DLA (Defense Logistics Agency) - from 1978 to 1993 1994 to Present - SPO, SPM, & other recent numbers If there is only a manufacturer stamp - it was made prior to 1953 (the Korean War)   DA Number DA stamped items were manufactured during the Korean War or early Vietnam War. To date your item, look for a 2 digit number near the end of the code (it will be between 53 and 61). That two digit number is the exact year of manufacture for your surplus item.   DSA Number DSA stamped items use a more complex dating system for items from early Vietnam to the end of the Vietnam War. 1962 thru 1964 – Prefix of DSA-1, Suffix of E6Y (Y=Year) 1965 – Prefix of DSA-1, No Dating Suffix 1966 – Prefix of DSA-100, No Dating Suffix 1967 thru 1977 Prefix of DSA-100, Dating Suffix of YYM (YY=Year, M=Month) On this tag the contact number would be found above the manufacturer. In this case the contract number is "DSA 100-71-C-0181" with "71" being the year of manufacture. The remaining numbers & letters do not relate to the date.     DLA Number DLA picked up where the DSA System left off, just replacing DSA with DLA. For Example, on this tag the contract number would be found above the manufacturer. The contract number would be "DLA 100-78-C-0720" with "78" being the year of manufacture. Again, the remaining numbers & letters do not affect the date.   1994 to Present SPO replaced the DLA system and continues till today. To find a year of manufacturer, locate the first 2 digit number after the 6 character alphanumeric code. There are other recent number systems, but generally they go back to the DLA System. For example this tags contract number is "SPM100-05-D-0419" with "05" being the manufacture year.     Manufacturer Stamp & Date For items before 1953, there was no coordinated system to date items. This leaves 2 ways to find the date: Manufactures sometimes dated their product when it was made Get a rough estimate, based on the time period the item was made & manufactured   REFERENCES ON THE FORUM I'd also highly recommend that new collectors peruse our PINNED THREADS - FIELD & PERSONAL GEAR section which has many topics on how to identify gear and items by the numbers.   There ya go...

> Time for rest, at ease... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x437mZNwjI

You're right. You cannot make this stuff up. They also promoted him to.... I think Major or LT colonel before he retired. I wont judge that...... but I could. The thing is, you could tell that his heart was in the right place, but he was not good at quick decision making and like the pic above, here everyone is, helmets on weapons.. Choppers flying in.... and there he is. His head down no helmet. He just should never have been in that job. Staff officer maybe.. leading a rifle company.... uh uh. when he walked in front of the company in formation, he walked like a British soldier. The guys would snicker. Yup, hes a rich guy now named Jennifer and married to a Woman. This is why I dont bother reading fiction. It pales in comparison to true life.  

So sad to hear. He was a great guy !

My guess would be it happened at unit level by some company armorer, or some troop wanting a new stock because the original was cracked or broken. Remember these were war time conditions, with interchangeable parts, consideration was not done for future collectors.  SKIP

Found a little info to help you get started.   From the 1910 US Census:   Name: George H. Pantley Age in 1910: 50 Birth Date: 1860 Birthplace: New York Home in 1910: Lakeland, Polk, Florida, USA Sheet Number: 7b Street: Rose Street Race: White Gender: Male Relation to Head of House: Head Marital Status: Widowed Father's Birthplace: Germany Mother's Birthplace: Germany Native Tongue: English Occupation: Carpenter Industry: House Employer, Employee or Other: Wage Earner Home Owned or Rented: Own Home Free or Mortgaged: Free Farm or House: House Able to read: Y Able to Write: Y Enumeration District Number: 0144 Out of Work: N Enumerated Year: 1910   Found a Commander Leland Frierson James in the USN officer registers. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1894, retired on 30 June 1912, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The Naval Academy Library Archives should be able to provide service information that would include when he commanded a Navy yard.

Yup, that is an early style liner. The snaps for the rayon sweat band are a hand me down from the Hawley liner. Those snaps didn't last long before being replaced with the clip on sweat band. It looks like the nape is also rayon. The version before yours had the Hawley style rectangle fasteners instead of the A washers like yours and the leather liner chin strap was non detachable just like a Hawley. Nice transitional helmet!!! Very nice! I would go back to the store and start digging on who owned this.