Original Items: Only One Lot of 2 Available. 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 gasmask to see service in the gas soaked trenches of the Western Front.

These are excellent examples, both complete with mask, filter, carry satchel and are complete with the original instruction manual. The masks are in good condition but have hardened a bit over time and the straps are very brittle and have broken away from the masks, making display on a stand of mannequin difficult unless repaired.

One of the carry bags has a complete travel history for a soldier who served in an artillery unit during WWI. He had written the locations of each place he was at or traveled through and the dates he was there, ranging from 1918 to 1919 with locations in both the US and France. No battle locations are present and it appears to just be ships, bases and camps he went to.

Comes more than ready for further research and display!