Airborne-Hunter Posted May 5, 2021 Author Share #26 Posted May 5, 2021 I was able to pull out one helmet today and get some photos. I received this helmet from a long time friend now deceased. We met each other in the classifieds section so that should give an idea.... Regardless he served in the Seabees during Korea. He loved everything aviation and collected the stuff extensively. Anything not aviation related was given to him by people he knew. In 2014 he pulled some stuff out and called me up. He said the box would find a good home with me and it did. I paid him quite well at the time, but I never got the story and I didn't understand the uniqueness of this piece until later. He passed in 2018 and his collection was spread to the winds. The most striking part of this helmet is the cover. Its a 1st pattern, unreinforced edge. Someone, at some point, cut the star off the front. It can only be speculated who or why this was done. Regardless, the cover shows obvious and blatant modification to accept foliage. It also has some repairs and bears what I assume are embroidered initials. There is a set of characters inked on the back, but I am not sure what they mean. There is a cotton strip sewn to the back of the cover as well. The helmet is a relatively well used Army showing extensive paint loss. It has worn to bare metal in many places. The liner is complete, but the straps have been shortened. One pad is marked with a 12 which I presume is showa 12 (1937). Anyway, that's all for today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortunes Of War Posted May 5, 2021 Share #27 Posted May 5, 2021 That's a great helmet and cover! You are right, Showa 12 is the date for "1937", and the liner looks to be marked a size "large". It also looks like the cover has either the remnants of a follow me cloth (even though some say they didn't do that!) or it could be what's left of a hand made Havelock. The two embroidered kanji on the back of the cover (r to l) appear to be for the characters: "yama" and "ta(da)". I love the story too about how you got it! Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortunes Of War Posted May 5, 2021 Share #28 Posted May 5, 2021 Jareth- Thanks for posting your helmet liner; it looks to be in very nice condition! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 8, 2021 Author Share #29 Posted May 8, 2021 My dad found this helmet somewhere about two years ago. The liner appears to have the date of showa 17 (1942) and full length straps. It appears to named and for some reason it also appears that someone made a red mark of the maker stamp and a larger white mark of the size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St.Lukas Posted May 8, 2021 Share #30 Posted May 8, 2021 The red mark is a second class mark. Indicating helmet was for second line troops likely homeland defense etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share #31 Posted May 10, 2021 I was able to pull this one out today. Unfortunately, I haven't a clue as to where it came from because I never wrote it down. In all its a nice standard army with complete straps, showa 17. Next to the date stamp is some other writing, but I don't know what it is. ABN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortunes Of War Posted May 11, 2021 Share #32 Posted May 11, 2021 Nice clean helmet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 11, 2021 Author Share #33 Posted May 11, 2021 A friend of mine bought this one for me. Seems it was found in a house and brought back by a distant relative, but they didn't know anything about the vet. Most notably, it looks like someone tried to pry the star off, but they were unsuccessful. The chinstraps have been repaired with leather twine. The date stamp under the flap is present, but impossible to read. I think the most important thing to take away from this one is to always treat people well and just maybe they'll return the favor. Best ABN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 11, 2021 Author Share #34 Posted May 11, 2021 This is one of those helmets that I never wrote down where I found it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 12, 2021 Author Share #35 Posted May 12, 2021 Another friend of mine was visiting Sacramento and went to a random garage sale and ran across this helmet. The guy has no military knowledge, but Call of Duty WW2 had come out not too long before and I think he might have been playing that. In any case, he brought this home and proceeded to parade it around for two months or so until he got tired of it and then I wound up with it. My understanding is that he paid $20. Needless to say, he made a lot of money on the deal. ABN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortunes Of War Posted May 13, 2021 Share #36 Posted May 13, 2021 Those are some nice looking helmets! Keep 'em coming...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 17, 2021 Author Share #37 Posted May 17, 2021 This is another one of the helmets picked up that I failed to tag and mark where it was found. Part of me says I found it as opposed to my dad, but I can't remember. Regardless, it a fairly standard helmet. I don't see a showa stamp. It appears to have a name written in the back and has full length straps. What makes this helmet interesting is that it has some burn marks on the outside. I'm not sure what caused these, every collector obviously wants to jump to a flame thrower, but to me it looks like something burning dripped onto it or it fell on some hot coals. Best ABN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 18, 2021 Author Share #38 Posted May 18, 2021 My dad got a call to a barn clean out around 2012 and came home with an utterly incredible load of stuff. Included was an immense amount of American field gear as well as a WW1 US helmet, an America airborne liner, a complete fixed bail, a swivel bail, a Chinese Nationalist and this Japanese helmet. From a collecting standpoint, this piece is textbook. First style, unreinforced cover. Full length straps. Legible showa 13 (1938) stamp. Star is intact under the cover. Cover appears to have a name under the rear edge, but I have never pulled this cover off the helmet. This is my favorite cover I have found and its been one of the first things to be pulled for the preceding three wild fires we've had. For those wondering; simply removing items from a structure and placing them on green grass will be enough to ensure survival in a fast moving fire. Even grass adjacent to structures. A house will burn for 6 hours. Nothing will survive. Fire safes are worthless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St.Lukas Posted May 18, 2021 Share #39 Posted May 18, 2021 That’s a very early helmet. Showa 13 =1937 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortunes Of War Posted May 18, 2021 Share #40 Posted May 18, 2021 ABH- Wow, nice helmet rig! As mentioned, quite early with a Showa 13 stamp. I love the story........Thank you for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepan12 Posted May 23, 2021 Share #41 Posted May 23, 2021 Nice looking collection! Ty for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shemp h. Posted May 23, 2021 Share #42 Posted May 23, 2021 That's a nice pile of lids ABN, in photo #33 it looks like the tie tapes are the same thin type used in IJN stencil anchor helmets or are they just folded over? Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 23, 2021 Author Share #43 Posted May 23, 2021 I went to an estate sale in early March 2020, right before the shutdown, and in digging around I found quite a bit of military stuff, but my favorite was this piece. It's not a complete helmet, but it presents well enough that I thought it worth to share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 23, 2021 Author Share #44 Posted May 23, 2021 This one walked into a local 2nd hand store summer 2014. The owner owed me a favor so he gave me first right of refusal on this one. It wasn't cheap, but its complete and pretty clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted May 23, 2021 Author Share #45 Posted May 23, 2021 Came out of an estate sale in New Jersey in September 2019. Another friend owed me a favor and was able to pick it up and get it back to me. Helmet star is missing. Also the yellow wool star on the cover has been eaten by bugs. I have seen this before on alot of covers and wonder why the bugs only touched the yellow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortunes Of War Posted May 24, 2021 Share #46 Posted May 24, 2021 ABH- Nice helmet! I have noticed too that some army and navy helmets have their anchors missing. I know that some of the guys used to remove the stars and anchors and collect them. I saw a "hate-type" of belt that was strung with probably 20-30 helmet stars and anchors. I have also seen wallets and other items made in the field that were decorated with helmet stars and anchors. In Japan, helmets are still found with their stars and/or anchors missing. I would guess that since the star and the anchor were the official emblems of the Japanese military during the war, they were removed for much the same way that the mum was ground from some of the weapons. As for the yellow stars, most of those were made from wool and were easy chomping for all sorts of bugs that feast on that material. Thank you for your post.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share #47 Posted June 28, 2021 This is the most recent find. Came off craigslist last week from a 91 year old Korean War vet. He said that when he was a teenager, his parents were taking care of a girl whose father was a Marine in the Pacific. He said the guy came home in 1944 and picked up the daughter. When he did he left this helmet and a couple other trinkets with the then 14 year old. Today, 77 years later, he fails to remember the name of the marine or the daughter. He does remember that this is how it was given to him without the liner pads and with what appears to be a battle field repaired aluminum star. There are remnants of dead grass brown on the star. In all my years this is the first field repaired Japanese helmet I have ever seen and without the story I doubt I'd believe it to be field repaired. Best ABN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortunes Of War Posted June 28, 2021 Share #48 Posted June 28, 2021 Wow, that is one worn helmet! Looks like a small size and I like the "field repaired" star. Is there white paint either under or along the edge of where the original star was placed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted June 29, 2021 Author Share #49 Posted June 29, 2021 1 hour ago, Fortunes Of War said: Wow, that is one worn helmet! Looks like a small size and I like the "field repaired" star. Is there white paint either under or along the edge of where the original star was placed? Yes. To me it looks like someone used white paint to make a star and then took off the clip/prong remnants and cast it them into a star before putting it back and painting the star. For whatever reason, the star seems to remind me of island made blades - soldiers making due with what they have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne-Hunter Posted September 21, 2021 Author Share #50 Posted September 21, 2021 I was helping my dad replace an oven today and while he had the power off he decided he wanted to replace a light switch. He didn't have any switches in his usual places so he had to go digging deep in his electrical cabinet in the basement. Considering he hasn't done much electrical in years, it was an endeavor. Once he finally got in there, he called me down to come take a look. The cabinet hasn't been opened in years and buried in the back, behind a box of switches was an American fixed bail M1, swivel bail M1 and this Japanese helmet. He didn't remember stashing them there or the reasoning for it. Fortunately, he tagged the Japanese helmet and it came from a good friend of his, now long deceased (2004). Where that man got it is beyond me. Regardless, here it is today. It shows minor use. The star on the helmet might be a replacement. The cover looks like a standard 2nd pattern to me. The liner is named in multiple places and the shell appears to have the same name as well. Straps are full length and still knotted. There appears to be blood inside on one of the pads and it appears to have dripped down into the crown. Overall, the helmet shows relatively little use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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