Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice service-used example of a Korean War Era U.S. Marine Corps Issue M1 Helmet as used during the Korean War Era and into the early Vietnam Conflict. The helmet features a rare Seaman Paper Company liner! The helmet shell has a heat stamp 877I, the "lift and lot" number from McCord that indicates production in approximately March of 1944. 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.

The Helmet comes with a great service worn condition 1953 dated U.S. Marine Corps Reversible Camouflage Cover, which still has a stamped EGA on the front which was done during the Korean War and not WWII. One of the inner flaps still has a faint manufacturer stamp:

COVER, HELMET, CAMOUFLAGE
BLUE ANCHOR OVERALL CO., INC.
TAB - 1424 29 APRIL 1953

The liner is correct high pressure WWII issue and stamped with a S in an oval for the SEAMAN PAPER COMPANY. Manufactured in Chicago, Illinois this "high pressure" manufactured M-1 helmet liner is identified by an embossed "S" in the crown. Seaman Paper Company started delivery to the US Army in September 1942. They produced approximately between 2,000,000 - 4,000,000 M-1 helmet liners and discontinued production around August 17, 1945 when the war ended.

This true, lovely service worn condition US WWII M-1 helmet liner can be identified through the frontal eyelet hole. Other correct WW2 features include cotton herringbone twill (HBT) OD Green #3 cloth suspension. This HBT suspension is held tightly within the M-1 helmet liner by rivets and a series of triangular "A" washers. The three upper suspension bands are joined together with a correct string. This way the wearer could adjust the fit. The sweatband is present and in lovely condition. The leather liner chinstrap is absent. There are several markings in the liner including a laundry number. The HBT camouflage cover has some holes and a very large tear on one side as shown, but still displays well on the helmet.

A very nice example of a Korean War issue helmet USMC helmet, perfect for any collection! Ready to display!

The M1 Helmet
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 total production of M-1 helmet shells during the war reached 22,000,000. Of these about 20,000,000 were produced by the main contractor McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company of Detroit. Although McCord was supposed to be the single source of M-1 helmet shells, by the summer of 1942 a second company was enlisted to help the production effort. This was Schlueter Manufacturing of St. Louis, Missouri. Schlueter began production of its M-1 helmet shells in January 1943. Schlueter produced only 2,000,000 M-1 helmet shells during the war (both fixed and swivel).

The early M-1 helmet shells had a set of fixed (static) 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). In October 1943, issues with the fixed bales breaking off resulted in a change to the "swivel bales" that this helmet has. In 1944, to deal with paint wearing off the very shiny stainless steel rim, the material was changed to manganese steel in October, and then the seam moved to the rear in November.