U.S. Navy M1 Hospital Corpsman Helmet

As a young destroyer sailor in the U.S. Navy in 1973 I was homeported in Long Beach California.  Several months prior to the end of my enlistment I was hauling a trash can to the dumpster at the end of the pier, and saw some other guys rooting around in the dumpster retrieving stuff.   Frequently, especially with the Vietnam war ending and many ships slated for sale or deactivation, lots of materiel was getting "surveyed" (Navy term for "thrown away").  Guys were hauling all kinds of stuff out of that dumpster, including some helmet shells, three of which went into my now empty trash can and then eventually mailed home.

These three shells and the Japanese helmet I found while stationed on Guam (read here) formed the nucleus of what has become my helmet collection.  Helmets included the Hospital Corpsman lid featured here as well as a repair party helmet and an executive officer's helmet, both to be profiled later in this series.

A Geneva Cross within a white circle is typical for a shipboard corpsman's helmet, and this one is from the late 1960s early 1970s.  Often these helmets were marked "Medical Department", "MED", "HC", or perhaps with the Caduceus insignia, or simply left olive drab or any variety of gray to blueish gray.  

Below is yours truly holding a Navy Corpsman's helmet used at Normandy in WWII.  The owner was Jay Huston of Grand Rapids Michigan, and the helmet now resides, permanently, in an exhibit at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids, entitled "V is for Veterans" which I curated several years ago.

Note that, save for the stenciled name on the chinstrap, the helmet has no makings at all. As a member of SNAG-2 (Special Naval Assault Group 2) Mr. Huston landed on the beach on D plus one. Jay insisted that no medics had marked helmets, or at least that's the way he remembered it. Perhaps the helmets in his unit were unmarked but it is safe to say that many if not most Navy beach units wore helmets which identified them as USN personnel in some manner, as did those Navy medics pictured below.



My point being that there is a lot of variation not only in the way helmets were (or weren't) marked, but also in the way events are remembered.

Here's what I remember; the sickbays on my ships, both destroyers, had a few lids marked with Geneva Crosses...

like this one.

Now for some detail shots, and the first one is very instructive for those who collect USN helmets and wish to date them.  Even if I was completely unfamiliar with this particular helmet I would know that it was in service from the early part or World War Two until at least 1973, and that blotch of yellow paint is the clue.  The cork particles in the paint as well as the front- butted rim indicate WWII.  The yellow paint is the tip-off for 1973.


The Navy banned the ubiquitous red-lead primer in 1973 for environmental reasons and switched over to zinc chromate.  This lid is spattered in several places with zinc chromate primer.


This is the "heat of the steel" marking on the inside front of the helmet.


The "hook and arrow" chinstrap furniture, as well as the strap itself are all in very good condition.

Close up of the spot-welded swivel bail.


Visible above are the spot-welds joining the rim to the shell as well as the manufacturers mark.  The "S" (inverted in pic) indicates that the shell was manufactured by the Schlueter Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, MO.  Most shells were manufactured by McCord Radiator in Detroit, far fewer were made by Schlueter.  Nearly all of my Navy shells are Schlueters.  Perhaps a reader can shed some light on why that might be.


The front-butted rim seam indicates manufacture prior to 1944.

Another fine looking M1 helmet from Uncle Sam's Navy.  I have to wonder who "PEZ" was.

U.S. Navy hospital corpsmen have a rich history and a justly deserved respect among sailors and Marines.  They are the ones who have heroically and selflessly risked (and lost) their own lives to save the lives of countless others on thousands of battlefields.

This is how many Marines have seen them:

However, as a fairly lack-luster young sailor, this was my only contact with his hallowed group of sailors:

                                               "ouch"



Navy Corpsmen, I salute them all.

provenance:
accession number: MOAharmoldv2. 193
United States Navy Medical Corpsman M1 Helmet
Acquired 1974, Naval Station Long Beach, California
Condition: very good