Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent example of a WWII U.S. Marine Corps Issue M1 Helmet as used during WWII, the Korean War, and into the early Vietnam Conflict. The shell is a late WWII Produced M1 Helmet, with a rear seam swivel bale made by McCord. The Helmet comes with an excellent condition Wartime manufactured Third Pattern U.S. Marine Corps Reversible Camouflage Cover that is in near mint/unissued condition. The helmet is complete with a late WWII issue , "High Pressure" liner and leather chinstrap. The complete set is in near mint/unissued condition, however it does show signs of honest wear, storage age, and handling over the decades.

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 537A, which indicates the approximate manufacture date of April 1945, right before V-E day. This helmet is a fine example and still retains all of its original WWII parts and the shell has all original "corked" grain paint with rear seam and swivel bails. The chin strap is the correct late war OD Green with blacked brass stamped hardware. The shell and chinstrap are in excellent condition, showing very little wear related to service.

The Westinghouse Liner is unique in that the helmet liner never had paint applied in the factory, which allows us to see the wonderful patterning is laminated canvas which consists of the clean OD3 Khaki Webbing secured by black finished “A”-Washers. The sweatband appears to be dated 1953, but is absolutely identical to WWII issue. The liner even comes with its original leather chinstrap, that is intact and unbroken.

The cover is the last pattern to be used during WWII which features 16 foliage buttonhole slits in the top of the helmet cover, and one buttonhole on each one of the “fingers”. The helmet has a non-factory applied USMC Eagle, Globe, Anchor Insignia stencil painted on the front. The practice of which is debated if it was done during WWII or not. Some believe it was done on an individual basis, or at unit level. We do now that USMC camo covers were not made with the EGA markings until after WWII.

A very nice example of a WWII issue 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.