NVA helmet with shrapnel damage

[Leo]

Recently I’ve been extremely lucky in finding some rather hard to find pieces through friends. 
 

This NVA pith helmet has received some kind of shrapnel damage and still has a piece of it stuck in the leather chin strap, and also a smaller piece in the brim. 
The metal is now fuzed in with the chin strap

 

What I would love to know is does anyone know what the numbers and writing mean on the headband, it looks to be from 2 different hands. It is obviously a US brought back piece and could be his details. 
 

Any help on the Vietnam name inside also I would really appreciate. 
 

On the other side it also looks like the NVA flag has been scratched in with also what looks like the name HO CHI MINH but scratched out and the NH visible. 

 

Also to mention on the date inscribed was operation Cedar falls, 700 NVA where killed
 

An interesting helmet I feel and wanted to show it. 
 

[RAB]

Very nice helmet!

[Leo]

15 minutes ago, RAB said:

Very nice helmet!

Thanks Rab 

 

[Leo]

Can anyone help with the writing inside the helmet 

[Cap Camouflage Pattern I]

It is hard to tell from the photo what is scratched out, but it looks as though it may start with HT, the abbreviation for Hòm thư, meaning letter box (number), which is a unit’s address in the military postal system, and it is quite common to see letterbox numbers beginning with HT carved into the brim of piths. More close-up photos of this area would be helpful. 

 

On the front of the sweatband it says 63277US, which is a letter box number, the Combined Document Exploitation Center’s 1 February 1971 VC/NVA Letter Box Numbers lists it as an element of the 338th Division, although unfortunately they were unable to narrow it down any further. The date of that intelligence was 1968. The PAVN records of letter box numbers appear to have been lost as they have been unable to use them to identify their dead. Hopefully they still exist in some forgotten corner of some archive but they are certainly not available currently. To the right of that is the given name Điều. 

 

On the left side of the sweatband it says Sư 338, short for Sư Đoàn, meaning division, and past that Z2 H3, although it looks like there could potentially be another number, it is hard to tell from the photo. In the case of the 338th division, Z2 H3 means 2nd Regiment 3rd Battalion. 

 

The 338th Division served as a training unit in Thanh Hóa, North Vietnam for the duration of the war. Once a battalion or regiment was trained and ready they would be sent down the Trường Sơn road or “Ho Chi Minh trail” to the south where the unit would be reassigned to another unit and redesignated, or if the experience of other training units is anything to go of off, they could potentially also be broken up and the men used as replacements for other units which had suffered casualties. 

 

So unfortunately without a whole lot of continued research, and a tremendous amount of luck to figure out what unit he ended up in, it is not possible to determine who he saw combat with. 

 

On the right side of the sweatband it appears to say 2-7-66 at the top, it is hard to tell and another photo would be appreciated. At a guess that would be his date or enlistment, and 1-8-1967 would be the date he began his journey south. Also the way the Vietnamese write date is Day, Month, Year, making it 1 August 1967. 

 

There is a Phạm Duy Điều from Kiến An district, Hải Phòng city who was killed in November 1972 in the Củ Chi district of Saigon. However there is no further information about him, and without anything to link them I am not comfortable saying they are the same man, rather than just two men with the same names. November 1972 is also pretty late for his pith to presumably have been taken as a trophy by an American because by that point all US infantry units had been withdrawn and only a scant few units remained, mainly aviation and logistical. 

 

I hope this helps, and I’d also like to thank my friend Nam for his tremendous help in researching this, George. 

[Leo]

Firstly let me just say thank you ever so much for all of the rich information you’ve provided on this helmet, I really do appreciate the time spent by you looking at it and researching.

Also with regards to the man that was killed in 1972 I believe it would’ve still been possible for a US servicemen to have brought that helmet back, is there any chance to see how that gentleman actually died. As the helmet has been hit with several bits of shrapnel I believe cause of death would have been due to a grenade or mortar strike etc. 

 

fascinating information - detailing this young warriors enlistment then his final walk south a year later to combat us forces and the South Vietnamese army. 
 

 

Also let me get more detailed pics for you on the writing 

[Cap Camouflage Pattern I]

Unfortunately there is no further details are listed, no cause of death, no unit, not even a date of birth. That info is usually listed, so that means whichever record its pulled from (perhaps only the gravestone) doesn't include it.

[Leo]

Copy you Cap and thanks again 

 

I’ll get better pictures up of the writing for you 

[Leo]

Here you go cap 🙂

also I just noticed a lot of that red dirt stuck in between the liner and headband. 
 

 

[Leo]

HT number ? 

[vietnam1965]

Nice relic!

[RRA227]

Nice piece.  Rich A. in Pa.

[Ivydiv]

Is the NVA screw back  helmet badge made out of aluminum or brass? I can't tell from the picture. Dave