Item:
ONJR22PPSR083

Original U.S. WWII 1944 M1 McCord Front Seam Swivel Bale Helmet Named to Lt. Anthony V. Del Pozzo with Westinghouse Liner

Item Description

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic named example of a genuine WWII M1 Helmet made by McCord Radiator, complete with a correct WWII Liner by Westinghouse. Inside the liner it is clearly named to:

Anthony V. Del Pozzo
Lt. 0 - 1337404

Included with the helmet are printed out scans of Del Pozzo's Registration Card, his selective service report, and a picture from his Obituary, which is unfortunately quite pixelated. Per the registration card, Del Pozzo was born April 11, 1922 in Southampton, New York, near the end of Long Island. He registered with Selective Service June 30, 1942, and entered service in the U.S. Army. Per his obituary he also served in Korea, so this helmet may have seen two wars! Definitely some great research potential here.

The U.S. WWII M-1 helmet was only produced from 1941 to 1945. The first production batch resulted with over 323,510 M-1 helmets before the start of the American involvement in the war. This helmet is heat-lot stamped with what looks to be 1049 E, indicating approximate manufacture during October 1944, shortly before the move to a rear seam.

The Ordnance Department selected McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company of Detroit Michigan to produce the steel M1 helmet bodies. These bodies were made from a single piece of Hadfield Manganese steel that was produced by the Carnegie-Illinois & Sharon Steel Corporations. Each completed raw M-1 helmet shell weighed 2.25 lbs each. The total production of M-1 helmet shells during the war reached 22,000,000. Of these about 20,000,000 were produced by McCord, the primary contractor.

This M1 shell has correct mid-late war swivel chinstrap loops, called "bales," and a rim with a front seam. In October 1943, issues with the fixed bales breaking off resulted in a change to the "swivel bales". Then in October 1944, the rims were changed from stainless steel to manganese steel, due to issues with the paint wearing off the rim. Both had non-magnetic properties to avoid interfering with compass readings. Shortly after this in November 1944 the specification was changed to have the rim seam in the rear of the helmet.

This helmet is a fine example and still retains all of its original WWII parts. The original "corked grain" can still be seen on the exterior, with no sign of repainting that we can see. It has the correct swivel bails and a rare front seam manganese steel rim, only produced for a few months before the move to rear seam. The chin strap is the correct mid war OD Green #3, with a late war pattern stamped brass buckle. The shell and liner are both marked with a Single white bar on front for a Lt. Rank Officer.

The liner is correct "high pressure" WWII issue and embossed with a W logo under mold number 6, for manufacture by the the Westinghouse Electric Co of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These "high pressure" manufactured M-1 helmet liner are identified by an embossed "W" in the crown (which is still Westinghouse's logo to this day). Westinghouse was the largest M-1 helmet liner producer and had two production divisions; Micarta and Bryant Electric. The Micarta Division produced about 13,000,000 M-1 helmet liners and the Bryant Electric Division about 10,000,000. Westinghouse Electric Company started M-1 helmet liner delivery in May 1942, and discontinued production around August 17, 1945 when the war ended.

This true US WWII M-1 helmet liner can be identified through the frontal eyelet hole. Other correct WW2 features include cotton herringbone twill (HBT) cloth suspension liner. This HBT suspension is held tightly within the M-1 helmet liner by rivets and a series of triangular "A" washers. The three upper suspension bands are joined together with the correct OD green string. This way the wearer could adjust the fit. The sweatband is intact, but is worn from age and use, and has a tear near the buckle. The original leather liner chinstrap is present, a real rarity.

An excellent genuine WWII M1 Helmet named to an officer who later served in the Korean War. In great shape, this would be perfect for any collection! Ready to display!

M1 Helmet

The M1 helmet is a combat helmet that was used by the U.S. military from World War II until 1985, when it was succeeded by the PASGT helmet. The M1 helmet has become an icon of the US military, with its design inspiring other militaries around the world.

Over 22 million U.S. M1 steel helmets were manufactured through September 1945. Production was done by McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company and Schlueter Manufacturing Company; the former developed a method to create an almost eighteen-centimeter deep bowl in a single pressing, which was an engineering milestone at the time.

In 1944, the stainless steel helmet rim with a seam at the front was replaced by a manganese steel rim with a rear seam, as well as the helmet bails being changed from a fixed, welded version to a swivel model in 1942, along with slight alterations to the shaping of the side brim. Further M1 helmets were manufactured for the Korean War.

Production continued during the Cold War era with periodic improvements; in 1955 a grommet in the front of the liner was deleted, in 1964 the liner construction was changed to laminated nylon and a new chinstrap design was introduced in 1975. The final contract for US M1 helmets was placed in 1976. The M1 was phased out of US service during the 1980s in favor of the PASGT helmet, which offered increased ergonomics and ballistic protection.

Following World War II, the M1 helmet was widely adopted or copied by numerous other countries and its distinctive shape was adopted as the NATO standard. Postwar analysis of wartime casualty figures by the US Army Operations Research Office found that 54 percent of hits to the M1 helmet failed to penetrate, and estimated that 70,000 men had been saved from death or injury by wearing it.

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