Original U.S. Korean War USMC M1 Helmet with Westinghouse / CAPAC Liner and Heavily Repaired 1st Pattern USMC Camouflage “Frogskin” Cover - Complete

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 shell looks to be a standard Korean war issue or possibly late WWII, and has swivel bales and a manganese steel rim with a front seam. There is a faint heat lot stamp, 677D. It is fitted with a correct Korean war style chin strap, which uses bent metal brackets to attach to the "bales", and also has a separate connector in the buckle. designed to break if put under excessive strain, preventing injury. The helmet comes with a heavily torn and repaired Wartime manufactured First Pattern U.S. Marine Corps Reversible Camouflage Cover.

The cover is the first pattern to be used during WWII which does not have the 16 foliage buttonhole slits in the top of the helmet cover, or 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 know that USMC camo covers were not made with the EGA markings until after WWII.

The helmet is complete with a late issue, Korean War Era, "High Pressure" liner and leather chinstrap, with a CAPAC stamp on the crown over the Westinghouse W logo. The liner has retained most of its original paint. The interior has clean OD7 Olive Drab HBT Webbing secured by blacked “A”-Washers. The sweatband, nape strap, and chin strap are present and in mostly solid condition, but the chinstrap has heavy crazing and some cracking along where it sits upon the brim.

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.