Item:
ON3636

Original U.S. WWI M1917 Doughboy Helmet of the 30th Infantry Division with Camouflage Paint

Item Description

Original Item: Only One Available. This wonderful example that has original period textured camouflage paint. The shell is maker marked with a stamping on the underside of the rim that reads ZF 51. This is an wonderful example of a genuine USGI Great War helmet from an well known infantry division of the US army. There is also an original hand painted monogram ‘XXX inside an "O" (for "Old") inside the cross bars of an "H" (for "Hickory") on red background bordered in black insignia for the 30 infantry division aka the Old Hickory Division.

The 30th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard in World War I and World War II. It was nicknamed the "Old Hickory" division, in honor of President Andrew Jackson. The Germans nicknamed this division "Roosevelt's SS.".[1] The 30th Infantry Division was regarded by SLA Marshall as the number one infantry division in the European Theater of Operations (ETO), involved in 282 days of intense combat over a period from June 1944 through April 1945.

The division was originally activated as the 9th Division (drawing units from NC, SC, VA and TN) under a 1917 force plan, but changed designation after the outbreak of World War I. It was formally activated under its new title in October 1917, as a National Guard Division from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.

Its organization included the 117th, 118th, 119th, 120th Infantry Regiments, the 113th, 114th, 115th Artillery Regiments, the 113th, 114th, 115th Machine Gun Battalions, and the 105th Engineer Regiment. The major operations it took part in were the Ypres-Lys, and the Somme offensive, in which it was one of the two US Army II Corps divisions (the other being the US 27th Division) to break the Hindenburg Line in the Battle of St. Quentin Canal. Its total casualties were 8,415. Its KIAs were 1,237, and WIAs 7,178.

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.

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