Original Item: One-Of-A-Kind. Entering into the First World War, the United States had no domestically manufactured gas mask to issue to soldiers. Instead the US Army had to rely on foreign manufactured and designed masks such as the French M2, British PH Helmet, British Small Box Respirator, and the French Appareil Respiratoire Tissot. The United States' government wanted something domestically engineered, and manufactured. This led to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Mines and B.F. Goodrich to design a standard gas mask for the US Army.

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 gas mask to see service in the gas soaked trenches of the Western Front.

This is an excellent example of a US Marine used M1917 Gas mask carrier! There is no mask present with the carrier, just the lovely painted bag. The bag shows signs of honest field service and wear with only minor discrepancies present. There are a few “snag holes” present, which could have been caused by a number of different things, one of the most common being barbed wire.

The front main body of the carrier has a lovely stenciled or carefully drawn Eagle, Globe and Anchor insignia. Below the EGA is the owner's name, ROLAND C. EDMUNDS. Private Edmunds was born on December 10, 1887 in Baltimore, Maryland. He enlisted on June 4, 1917 and is seen having been mustered with multiple units. He served aboard various ships, a part of the Marine Detachments, one of which being the USS Kansas. Other units he served with was the 55th Pioneer Infantry Battalion and the 106th Infantry Regiment of the 27th Infantry Division as a member of the Camp Lee Detachment. We have not been able to fully locate a service record for Pvt Edmunds or records of Marines serving in the 27th Infantry Division, making for a wonderful research opportunity!

We did discover that he was awarded the Serbian Order of St. Sava, an Order of Merit. The Royal Order of St. Sava, first awarded by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1883 and later by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was awarded to nationals and foreigners for meritorious achievements in the field of religion, education, science and the arts as well as for social and relief work. The order was abolished in 1945 with the proclamation of the People’s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the end of the monarchy.

It continues as a dynastic order, with appointments currently made by Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia. An homonymous order was established in 1985, conferred by the Serbian Orthodox Church to ecclesiastic and secular persons with special merits.

Comes more than ready for display!