Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is a tremendous Navy M1 Helmet identified to John Edward Zavrski, one of the survivors of the sinking of the USS Astoria, which was sunk during the Battle of Savo Island on August 9th, 1942. 

This is a very nice early example of a genuine WWII Front-Seam Fixed Bale M1 Helmet made by McCord Radiator, with an extremely rare Hawley pressed paper liner, which is mostly complete, a rare thing to see.

The U.S. WWII M-1 helmet was only produced from 1941 to 1945. The first production batch resulted with over 323,510 M-1 helmets before the start of the American involvement in the war. This helmet is heat-lot stamped 51C 2, a likely partial number which is too faint to fully read and identify the date of manufacture.

The front of the shell is stenciled in Yellow:

NC-O
NAV.-BRIGADE

This likely means Navigation Brigade, which Zavrski was likely part of while serving aboard his ship. 

The Ordnance Department selected McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company of Detroit Michigan to produce the steel M1 helmet bodies. These bodies were made from a single piece of Hadfield Manganese steel that was produced by the Carnegie-Illinois & Sharon Steel Corporations. Each completed raw M-1 helmet shell weighed 2.25 lbs each.

The early M-1 helmet shells had a set of fixed chinstrap loops called "bales" and a stainless steel rim. These rims were both rust resistant and had "non-magnetic qualities" that reduced the chance of error readings when placed around certain sensitive equipment (such as a compass).

This helmet is a fine example and still retains all of its original WW2 parts and the shell has all original "corked" grain paint with front seam and fixed bails. The chin strap is the correct OD Green #3 with blacked brass hardware. Unfortunately the material on the chinstrap (and other webbing) has fraying and pieces missing.

Condition of the shell is quite nice, with only a few dents, and the blue paint retained well. There is also still a lot of paint on the Stainless Steel rim, which was prone to wear. The shell does have a few stress cracks, common due to the "high dome" design of the M1. The liner is also in quite good condition, which is somewhat rare, as the Hawley liners were made of paper, and unfortunately not nearly as resistant to wear as the "high-pressure" type. It does have cracking as well as fraying present, but is still mostly whole. The webbing does show tearing and deterioration as well. Under the front visor is the name J.E. ZAVRSKI, for John Edward Zavrski. 

John Edward Zavrski was born in Nebraska on June 5th, 1920. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on August 9th, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois. He was assigned to the USS Astoria which was stationed at Pearl Harbor until December 5th, 1941 when it was put to sea in the screen of Rear Admiral John H. Newton's Task Force 12 (TF 12) built around Lexington. Once the task force reached open sea, Lexington's air group and the 18 Vought SB2U-3 Vindicators from Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 231 (VMSB-231) bound for Midway landed on the carrier's flight deck. When Pearl Harbor was bombed 2 days later, Astoria was some 700 mi (1,100 km) west of Hawaii steaming toward Midway with TF 12. At 0900 the following day, the heavy cruiser Indianapolis, flagship of Vice Admiral Wilson Brown, Commander, Scouting Force, joined up with TF 12, and Brown assumed command. Its ferry mission canceled, TF 12 spent the next few days searching an area to the southwest of Oahu, "with instructions to intercept and destroy any enemy ship in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor...."

Zavrski continued serving aboard the USS Astoria until it was sunk during the Battle of 
Savo Island on August 9th, 1942. Zavrski was one of the few men who survived, as 219 men were reported missing or killed. Zavrski remained in the Navy after World War II ended, retiring as a Chief Boatswain’s Mate in the 1950s. He passed away on March 30th, 1993, at the age of 72.

This is definitely a helmet that saw use during the war with . This would make a worthy addition to any WWII or Helmet collection.