Named Orig Vg-exc Us Army Wwii 1943 Fixed Bail M1 Helmet W / 1943 W'house Liner

Posted Sat, 12/19/2020 - 01:51

This is an original, named, 1943 U. Marine Corps (USMC) WWII fixed bail M1 helmet with a mid-WWII Westinghouse helmet liner. The fixed bail helmet shell and the liner are an original set and have been together since they were issued to a US WWII GI.
The GI wrote his name and full Army Serial Number (ASN) neatly in ink inside the helmet shell. Is by McCord, it has a heat of steel number stamped into the front (under the front seam), the number is 563D (indicating a likely manufacturing date of 1943).
Has its original khaki cotton chinstraps, both the long strap and the short strap with J-hooks, these are the factory original straps and have been on the helmet since WWII. The hardware on the straps is black painted steel for the flat (female) buckle, and blackened brass for the J-hooks. This combination of steel and brass is typical for the early to mid-WWII period when brass was in short supply because of the production of cartridges and shell casings. The J-hooks are cut off straight, rather than angled, this is as expected for a mid-war helmet.

The helmet shell has its factory original, cork-textured paint, the paint is about 98% or so present both inside and out, there is some wear to the paint around the stainless steel rim. The cork texture has smoothed a bit over most of the helmet, it is still sharp near the rim. The inside of the helmet shows a slight "bathtub ring" from where the soldier used it as a wash basin for shaving. On the left side of the helmet interior, near the chinstrap bail, the soldier neatly inked his name and Army Serial Number: ARTHUR E.

" The short strap of the shell is stenciled in black paint with "B 7915, this is the first initial of his last name, and the last four digits of Burkhardt's serial number. On the long strap is written "B - " with no number following, looks like Burkhardt began to write his ID number there but never completed it. The Westinghouse M1 helmet liner is intact, has no cracks, splits, or other damage, has its factory original paint, a slightly textured, light OD, never repainted or modified except for two stenciled numbers on the sides, these are "20" and "59" (I do not know their meaning). The liner has green-painted A-washers. It also has its original khaki cotton webbing, in a single herringbone twill (HBT) weave.

The original nape strap is there, this is a one-piece, khaki cotton nape strap in single HBT webbing, marked on back with the manufacturers name, CSC (Central Slipper Company). The nape strap is stamped with C.

The helmet liner also has its original leather sweatband, this is made of khaki cotton in multiple HBT. The sweatband has a single-piece green-painted adjusting buckle. Its webbing is stamped with: W-11-009-QM17658, HICKOK.

This indicates that the sweatband was made by the Hickok Manufacturing Company, Inc. Army contracts during WWII, mostly for helmet liner sweatbands and leather slings for the M1 or Springfield Rifle and the Browning Automatic Rifle. The sweatband has all of its original green-painted spring clips, these have the reinforcing ridge of steel at the bottom.

The inside crown of the helmet liner has embossed into it the Westinghouse logo (W over an oval inside a circle), and the number 14. The helmet shell is in at least very good condition, has factory original paint, the texture and paint are 98% present, texture shows some slight smoothing. There are no stress cracks, there is a very slight crease or shallow dent near the crown, this is found more by feel than by sight, it is a very slight indentation. Khaki cotton cloth chinstraps are original, firmly attached, not worn, fairly clean, with nice color.

There are some soiling spots and a small reddish spot on the inside of the long strap. As noted, soldier Burkhardt stenciled his ID number on the short strap and wrote a partial ID on the long one.

Hardware on chinstraps shows some light oxidation, see photos. The helmet liner is in very good to excellent, lightly used condition. The webbing is intact, washers are firmly attached, there are no cracks, splits, holes or any other damage, the liner is in nice condition. Exterior of liner is in very nice shape, has about 98% of factory original paint, this shows some wear and as noted there are two numbers stenciled in black paint on either side of the liner.
There is a small thin circle of worn paint around the eyelet hole, indicating that some sort of rank or unit insignia was once attached there. There is no leather chinstrap, but lugs that hold the leather chinstrap are of white steel and in very fine shape, firmly attached. The liner's webbing is somewhat soiled from wear during WWII.

The sweatband is in excellent condition, shows some soiling and wear but the leather is flexible and "live, " buckle and spring clips show all of their original paint and are clean. Nape strap is faded a bit, shows a little wear but is still in nice shape with clear markings. Overall a nice, totally original, named 1943 helmet set, used in WWII by a soldier named Arthur E. Burkhardt is listed in the National Archives, he was inducted into the U.

Army in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 6, 1942. At the time he was 35 years old, a fairly old age for a WWII soldier.

The Archives record that he was single, with no dependents, had a year of college, and worked as a salesperson. He was inducted as a private. I do not know anything else about Mr.
Burkhardt's service record, but presumably could be researched. Fully named M1 helmets are rare, this one is in very nice shape and a great example of what an M1 helmet issued in 1943 would have looked like. All the components, from the shell's heat of steel number to the green-painted washers on the liner and the green-painted adjusting buckle on the sweatband, indicate manufacture in 1943. Just a nice, clean, named example, these are hard to come by. Guaranteed original and in the condition it was in during the war.

This helmet has been in storage since the end of the war, stored under excellent conditions. This helmet has not been modified in any way since it was used in World War II. The item "NAMED ORIG VG-EXC US ARMY WWII 1943 FIXED BAIL M1 HELMET W / 1943 W'HOUSE LINER" is in sale since Monday, December 14, 2020. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Militaria\WW II (1939-45)\Original Period Items\United States\Hats & Helmets". The seller is "msaco" and is located in Flagstaff, Arizona.

This item can be shipped worldwide.