I’m watching, a good effort. I’m looking at doing the same at some point, I’m considering a different material for the fabric though. I’m thinking along the lines of buckrum as it can be steamed together all of the wrinkles out. 

I have a late war M1C and its a swivel bail. I dont think they were turning out fixed bales that late in the war. And the sewn on chinstraps I believe tell the story on the steel pot. You know what I mean........ someone got creative.... Its a put together with a fake M1C. Someone sewed para chinstraps onto an old fixed bail. And stuck a liner in it.

What did the seller say about the helmet?

I don't know why it flipped whe I posted it. I'll put up a few more pictures to show what the back looks like. It's 5 1/2 inches in length, 2 inches in height.

I don't mean to step on your post or move it in another direction, but you might find this interesting. I have been to a number of F-100 crash sites in the Mojave. Blackburn's ZEL F-100D was interesting. It was hard to find because its a localized crash site. It is cleaned up, but tid bits are to be found.

How big is it?  what does the back look like? These were unofficial, usually made ship board and sold or given to sailors. (It's also upside down)

When I first joined the Navy a neighbor of my parents found out that I was going Subs. He gave my a dolphins plaque that he had been given when went to his first submarine in the 1940s. I'm trying to find out just how old it is and I'm curious how much it's worth but I'm not interested in selling it.

There are a number of other scenarios that could’ve happened as well. Yes that is what was standard and what should’ve happened. For all we know he could have left it at home if he lived in the area, or was having in laundered when he was about to go overseas and never picked it up. Really who knows. The dates in the jacket match up, the name matches up and his enlistment time, plus the handwriting dilemma has been solved. I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be a very likely possibility it was a raiders uniform.

I share your interest in old printed news. I love taking old newspapers out of a trunk and reading them--such a different perspective on events as compared to today!  I think I still have a WW1 clipping that states a number of soldiers died from "hurts" received in battle---"hurts", not wounds or even injuries! Strange.  Storage of these papers is a big problem for me, I'm completely out of  room for anymore. I did find a 2 volume bound set of the Stars & Stripes papers for WW1. They are large and very heavy, so they aren't handled  or displayed very much. Thanks for posting, it's an often overlooked source of information.     Steve

Exactly so, EE87: if we don’t look, we can’t find!