Original Item: Only One Available. 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.

This fine example with complete liner but no chinstrap (repaired) is has original period brown/green textured paint with the 91st Infantry Division 91 PINE TREE insignia painted on the front. The shell is maker marked with the stamping on the underside of the rim ZC 178.

This is a very nice example of a genuine USGI Great War helmet from an legendary division of the US army.

History of the 91st Division in WW1:

The 91st Infantry Division (variously nicknamed as the "Pine Tree Division" or "Wild West Division") was a unit of the United States Army that fought in World War I and World War II.

Constituted on 5 August 1917 at Camp Lewis, Washington, near Tacoma, the division soon thereafter departed for England in the summer of 1918. In September 1918, the division's first operation was in the St. Mihiel Offensive in France. Serving under the U.S. Army's V Corps, the division fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and successfully helped to destroy the German First Guard Division and continued to smash through three successive enemy lines.

Twelve days before the end of World War I, the division, as part of the VII Corps of the French Sixth Army, helped drive the Germans east across the Escaut River. The division was awarded separate campaign streamers for its active role in the Lorraine, Meuse-Argonne and Ypres-Lys campaigns.