Original Item: Only One Available. This is an extremely rare example of an original U.S. Marine Corps British-Made Mk. I "Doughboy" helmet, which is marked on the front with a Marine Corps 6th Machine Gun Battalion, 2nd Division insignia. This is a very interesting variation of the insignia without the “Indian Head” in the star. All U.S.M.C. WWI helmets are rare, but those bearing the painted insignia of the 2nd Division are the most sought after, and have become increasingly scarce as time marches on.

This phenomenal example features a white star painted over a purple oval, which indicates use by the 6th Machine Gun Battalion (USMC), which included the 15th, 23rd, 77th, and 81st Companies of the Marine Corps.

This example retains most of its liner and the scarce rubber ring at the bottom, but the liner is heavily worn and loose, although it is still connected to the rivet. the front still has a genuine blacked brass WWI USMC EGA Badge over the division insignia! The hole made for the insignia is most likely punched, but we have not attempted to remove it to check, as the paint 100% verifies this helmet as genuine. We would not recommend removing the EGA, as it’s likely been where it is for decades, if not longer.

The shell is maker-marked with a stamp that is unfortunately too worn to read, but from the split rivets retaining the chinstrap bales, we can confirm this to be a British-manufactured helmet. To find a 2nd Division USMC Helmet which is a British shell means that it was one of the very first helmets issued to U.S. Troops in France, meaning this was almost certainly worn by one of the first marines to arrive in France, and was almost certainly worn at the Battle of Belleau Wood, the most prolific battle in Marine Corps history.

The outer shell still has some remnants of original paint. There is some dirt and rust on the shell, which we left in place to preserve the patina. There also are a few small dents on the crown of the shell. The EGA (Eagle, Globe, Anchor) insignia on this helmet can be identified as a World War I Era EGA by its use of both latitude and longitude lines on the Globe, while later EGAs would only use latitude lines.

The best feature of this helmet however is definitely the original hand painted 6th Machine Gun Battalion, 2nd Division - “Indianhead” Division emblem in the center of the front of the helmet. Marines under this division used specific colors and shapes behind the "Indianhead" to designate which unit they were in, and the "purple oval" indicates the 6th Machine Gun Battalion, part of the 4th Marine Brigade. The insignia is in fantastic condition with a great patina. We can’t say for sure why this Marine chose to leave out the Indian Head on this patch, but the age of the paint does not lie, and this helmet is completely genuine.

After being formed in 1917, the 6th Machine Gun Battalion supported the Marine regiments by detaching machine gun companies to operate with the regimental battalions along the Western Front and to provide fire support to them during the fighting. In addition to this role, the battalion was sometimes employed as a complete unit with all its companies being concentrated together to ensure that maximum firepower was applied to various points along the front line in support of Allied attacks and also to defend against German assaults.

The U.S. Marine Corps did not field divisional size units during WWI, so they were made part of the divisions of the U.S. Army. In fact, the entire 2nd Division was for a time during WWI commanded by U.S.M.C. Major General John A. Lejeune himself!

This is a wonderful RARE example of a genuine USMC Great War helmet to the scarce 6th Machine Gun Battalion, complete with divisional insignia, all original and ready to display!