Original Item: Only One Available. This is a genuine late WWII rear seam M-1C helmet shell with original paint and insignia for the 25th Glider Infantry Regiment  on both sides. The liner is very nice condition Westinghouse Paratrooper liner with correct rigging.

This M-1C paratrooper helmet is what would have been used during WWII by members of the various Parachute Infantry Regiments towards the end of WWII.

The M-1 helmet retains it's original cork grain paint and swivel bale chinstrap loops. It also has original shuttle loom sewn chinstraps set with original hardware and snaps. The shell is marked 1196D indicating it was manufactured by the McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company of Detroit Michigan in December 1944.

The liner is correct high pressure WWII issue and stamped with a W for the Westinghouse Electric Co Manufactured in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this "high pressure" manufactured M-1 helmet liner is identified by an embossed "W" in the crown (which is still Westinghouse's logo to this day). Westinghouse was the largest M-1 helmet liner producer and had two production divisions; Micarta and Bryant Electric.

The M-1 liner provided with this helmet has an original suspension liner made to airborne specifications. It has original HBT cloth suspension (which includes): upper suspension, lace cord, back-strap, nape strap, sweatband, internal airborne snaps, leather liner chinstrap, shuttle loomed A straps with with original brass wire buckles. The chin cup is a late war web variation. This is a very affordable way to get an original configuration WWII Paratrooper Helmet for a fraction of the cost.

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.

At some point in time the inside of the shell was marked with red paint, which was removed, traces of which can still be seen.

History of the 325th GIR in WWII.

On the morning of 23 December 1944, elements of the U.S. 3rd Armored Division were retreating from the Germans in the Ardennes Forest near Fraiture, Belgium. A sergeant in a tank destroyer spotted an American digging a foxhole.The GI, a Private First Class of Co. F, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, looked up and asked, "Are you looking for a safe place?

"Yeah," answered the tanker.

"Well buddy," he drawled, "just pull your tank in behind me... I'm the 82nd Airborne and this is as far as the bastards are going!"

(23 December 1944....near Fraiture Belgium)

Located at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana,  the Regiment was again to be part of the 82nd Division.  Late in July 1943, the heavy equipment arrived that would turn the regiment into the 325th Motorized Infantry Regiment.

This suddenly changed when the Chief of Staff, General Marshall had decided that the 82nd Division would be an excellent division to use as a base for his proposed Airborne force.  General Omar Bradley, because of his excellent work in training the 82nd Division, was to be transferred to the 28th Division which was having a great deal of trouble in meeting its training objectives. General Matthew Ridgway, the 82nd Assistant Division Commander, would become its Commander.

The 325th Glider Infantry Regiment was formed and given the task of arriving into battle by glider.  Parachutes could, and often did, wind up scattered for miles on a drop zone.  The same held true for equipment and supplies.  The glider was the answer to all these problems.  As long as a glider stayed in one piece,  the items inside it would too.  This meant no more searching through the swamp looking for the missing barrel to a Howitzer.  Jeeps could also fit into a glider.  Best of all, troops could be put into a glider and land as a coherent fighting unit.

Gliderborne assaults, however, were not without their risks.  Gliders and their tow planes were slow, fat targets.  They had no armor to protect the men inside.  Landing in a glider was also an adventure and little more than a controlled crash.  Even if the pilot had the time and altitude to select a good spot to land, conditions on the ground of which he might be totally ignorant could wreck a landing.  Ditches, wire, fences, tree stumps or a host of other possible ailments could flip, twist, or gut an unfortunate glider.

During the time of its introduction to the gliders, the Regiment lost its Commander.  Colonel Easley was promoted to Brigadier General and went to the 96th Division.  He was replaced by Colonel Harry Lewis who would guide the Regiment through its glider training and on to combat overseas.

The 325th Glider Infantry Regiment was formed and given the task of arriving into battle by glider.  Parachutes could, and often did, wind up scattered for miles on a drop zone.  The same held true for equipment and supplies.  The glider was the answer to all these problems.  As long as a glider stayed in one piece,  the items inside it would too.  This meant no more searching through the swamp looking for the missing barrel to a Howitzer.  Jeeps could also fit into a glider.  Best of all, troops could be put into a glider and land as a coherent fighting unit.

Salerno
The Regiment arrived to its first battle, not by air, but by sea.  Boarding beach landing craft, the Regiment was sent to Salerno from the island of Sicily to reinforce American units already there.  On September 15th at about 2300, they landed at Paestum, some eighteen miles south of Salerno where they awaited orders.  Daybreak on the 16th brought orders.  The 2nd Battalion was to re-board the landing craft and farther north to the town of Maiori.  Here they were to be attached to Colonel William O. Darby's Ranger Task Force and relieve Ranger units currently holding positions on 4000 foot Mount St. Angelo di Cava.  The Battalion was welcomed the next morning by a German artillery barrage.  The Germans probed the Battalion lines.  Despite numerous attempts to throw the Glidermen off the mountain, the Americans held their ground.  It was here that the Regiment received its first casualties of the war.

Normandy - D-Day
On 7 June 1944, D-Day plus one, the Regiment landed by glider in Normandy and participated in the invasion of France. On 9 June, Private First Class Charles N. Deglopper single-handedly defended his platoon's position and subsequently was awarded the Medal of Honor for this action. As soldiers of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment swooped down to Normandy, other elements of the 82nd Airborne Division were in the process of capturing the town of St. Mere Eglise on an airborne operation behind enemy lines. It was for the success of their effort that the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division were awarded the red and green braided French Fourregerre.

The next glider assault for the 325th was during Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne operation ever conducted.  During this battle, the 325th landed among German positions that had surrounded other elements of the 82nd Airborne Division. This glider attack turned the tide of battle and earned the Regiment the Distinguished Unit Citation.

The Ardennes - Battle of the Bulge
Suddenly, on December 16, 1944, the Germans launched a surprise offensive through the Ardennes Forest which caught the Allies 325th GIR Company K completely by surprise. Two days later the 82nd joined the fighting and blunted General Von Runstedt's northern penetration in the American lines.

Originally, the 82nd Airborne was to defend Bastogne but the 101st Airborne drew that assignment and the 82nd was sent north to Werbomont. The 325th dug in around the crossroads at Baraque de Fraiture and held. During the intense fight in December 1944 The 325th decimated two German Divisions.

The fight continued into January 1945. Absorbing heavy casualties the 325th continued on to Thier-du-Mont.  Later in 1945, the 325th's action in Germany ended with the Regiment driving deep into the heart of Germany.  The war offically ended in Europe on 5 May 1945 and the 82nd Airborne Division was called upon to serve as the occupation force in the American Sector of Berlin.  Here the 82nd Airborne Division earned the name, "America's Guard of Honor." The regiment assisted in Berlin occupational duties until it returned to the United States in 1946 and was deactivated on December 15, 1947.