Original Item: Only One Set Available. This is a great WWI USGI Equipment set, consisting of an M1917 "Doughboy" steel helmet and an M1917 SBR Gas Mask, complete with carry bag and filter. Even better, both are clearly marked with the Divisional Insignia of the 27th "New York" Infantry Division. This insignia features an overlapping "NY" monogram, with an "O" around them, for their other nickname, "O'Ryan's Roughnecks". The stars are the constellation "Orion", a pun on their first commanders name.

The included helmet is a very nice example of a U.S. M1917 "Doughboy" style, and features original period OD Green paint and an complete original liner. The paint is in very good condition both inside and outside the helmet, with the expected wear from service. There are also some dents on the shell, which does show some rippling from the stamping process.. The liner is present, and is in very good condition, with great looking oil cloth and netting. The top pad is complete, as is the original leather chin strap.

The underside of the rim is stamped FKS 85, indicating that the shell is one of the 400,000 British manufactured helmets supplied to the U.S. at their entrance into the war. The split pin rivets attaching the chin-strap bales further confirm this. "FKS", "F", and "F/S" signify maker Thomas Firth & Sons Ltd of Sheffield, who produced helmet shells and steel from 1916 to 1918. Overall, a very nice example.

The included M1917 SBR Gas Mask in size 3 comes complete with the filter, carry satchel, and instructions. It still has the large spring under the filter, which helps to space the filter from the bottom of the satchel, as well as the "anti-dimming" treatment, which keeps the lenses from fogging.

Unfortunately the mask itself, as well as the hose, has deteriorated almost completely due to the rubber rotting out. This is unfortunately the fate of almost all WWI U.S. gas masks, as the early rubber was not really able to last 100 years. Even modern rubber often deteriorates in a few decades, depending on the composition.

However, the excellent personalization on the satchel more than makes up for the condition of the mask. It is named to PvT. Nelson S. Hall, Co. G 108 INF, A.E.F.. This unit was part of the 54th Infantry brigade, along with the 106th and 107th Regiments. The outside also indicates that they were deployed with the British 2nd & 4th Army "Over The Top" Sept. 29th + Oct 17th - 18. There are additional personalization as shown.

A wonderful totally original 27thnd Division helmet & SBR gas mask in very nice condition! Loads of research potential here, as well as a fantastic display item.

History of the 27th "New York" Division

The 27th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard in World War I and World War II. The division traces its history from the New York Division, formed originally in 1908. The 6th Division designation was changed to the 27th Division in July 1917.

When the New York Division was organized in 1908, the New York National Guard became the second state, after Pennsylvania, to structure its National Guard at such a high tactical level in peacetime. The New York Division was called to active duty during the Mexican border crisis of 1916. While on federal duty, it was redesignated as the 6th Division in June 1916. It was released from active duty in December 1916, only to be recalled for World War I service in July 1917. The 6th Division was reorganized and redesignated as the 27th Division on 1 October 1917.

Called into federal service on 15 July 1917, the Twenty-Seventh Division hastily recruited to increase its numbers and late in August, was concentrated at Camp Wadsworth, near Spartanburg, SC, for intensive training. In the spring of 1918, the division began its movement toward embarkation camps. The division’s advance detachment left Hoboken on 2 May and arrived at Brest, France, 10 May 1918. Late in June the last units of the Twenty-Seventh Division had arrived safely overseas.

Until 24 July the division was in the final stages of training under British mentors, in Picardy and Flanders. On 25 July, the 27th Division less its artillery brigade and 102nd Ammunition Trains, occupied the Dickebusch Lake and Scherpenberg sectors in Flanders. In just over a month, this operation merged into the Ypres-Lys action, and then, from 19 August to 3 September, the 27th was on its own.

The great Somme "push," lasting from 24 September to 1 October, saw the 27th engaged in severe fighting along the Saint Quentin Canal Tunnel—one of the out-lying strong points of the supposedly impregnable Hindenburg Line. Following heavy losses, the 27th was placed into reserve for rest and replacements at the conclusion of the first phase of the Somme Push. Six days later the Twenty-Seventh Division was back into action again, moving steadily toward Busigny on the heels of the retiring Germans.

The 27th Division had, in conjunction with British forces and the 30th Division, American Expeditionary Force, cracking the Hindenburg line wide open.

The 52d Field Artillery Brigade and the 102nd Ammunition Train of the New York Division had not gone with the rest of the Twenty-seventh Division to the British front in Flanders. They had moved up on 28 October, to support the Seventy-Ninth Division in the Argonne.

Meanwhile, the Twenty-Seventh Division units which had seen heavy action in Flanders, had moved back to an area near the French seaport of Brest.

More on the M1917 "Doughboy" Helmet

The M1917 was the US Army's first modern combat helmet, used from 1917 and during the 1920s, before being replaced by the M1917A1. The M1917A1 helmet was an updated version of the M1917 and initially used refurbished WW1 shells.

The M1917 is a near identical version of the British Mk.I steel helmet, and it is important to note that when the US joined the Great War in 1917 they were initially issued with a supply of around 400,000 British made Mk.Is, before production began state side. The M1917 differed slightly in its lining detail, and exhibited US manufacture markings.

M1917 helmet liners typically show a paper label at the crown and the dome rivet head. The liner is set up as on the British versions, with an oilcloth band and net configuration, attached to a leather strap, riveted to the shell. The chinstrap is leather with steel buckle.

More on the M1917 SBR Gas Mask:

Of the 5,250,000 gas masks of all types produced by the U.S. during the war, 1.6 million of them were the improved version of the British SBR. This mask was officially known as the U.S. Corrected English Small Box Respirator or the U.S. Corrected English Model (CEM). Produced in six sizes (1 through 6) from January to March 1918, the CEM was one of the two most commonly worn American made gas masks used by the AEF.

Despite complaints from France regarding the British SBRs uncomfortable mouthpiece and its despised hated nose-clip, American gas experts determined that this type of respirator provided the best protection. Ever since the failure of the ASBR, American gasmask designers toiled to modify, improve, and ultimately make the American version of the SBR more comfortable, more reliable and stronger than the English mask that it mirrored. After numerous revisions, by October of 1917, the design had been perfected. Upon passing a comprehensive battery of field tests, the CEM respirator went into full scale production in January of 1918. It would be the very first U.S. made gasmask to see service in the gas soaked trenches of the Western Front.