Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic genuine Great War hand painted camouflage helmet complete with its original liner. Helmet features original period colored panel camouflage paint in various shades of green, blue, black and red. The best feature of the helmet besides the camouflage is the small Golden Acorn painted on the front and the regiment and company designation in yellow on the top for 346th Infantry Regiment Company D.

The paint is somewhat worn, and definitely shows use, but it has a great look and the colors are still easily discernible. The interior of the helmet has some of the original paint from when the soldier repainted the helmet. It also has an original liner with felt top pad and still has the liner size stamp visible, 6 3/4. The liner does show age, and the leather is somewhat degraded, but the oil cloth is quite solid, as is the underlying netting. Unfortunately the leather chinstrap has cracking throughout the surface of the leather with the lower portions missing along with the buckle.

The shell is marked with a stamping on the underside of the rim that reads ZD 187. The solid rivets and heat lot number indicate that this helmet shell was produced in the United States.

This is a lovely example of a genuine WWI American doughboy helmet! Comes more than ready to display.

The 346th Infantry was a component of the 173rd Infantry Brigade of the 87th Division.

The 87th Division was made up of National Army drafts from Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. It was organized at Camp Pike, Arkansas. The overseas movement began August 23, and the last units arrived in France September 13, 1918.

Upon arrival in France, the division was turned over to the Service of Supply and ordered to Pons (Charente-Inferieure), where it was broken up and units placed in the intermediate section. The commanding general of this division was Major General Samuel D. Sturgis. The division is popularly known as the "Acorn Division," and the shoulder insignia is a brown acorn on a green circle.

History of the M1917 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.