The helmet that never existed

SkipperJohn

SkipperJohn

Well-known member
This is an original example of a World War I USMC Brodie helmet:

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The paint color is more forest green, as used by the Marines, and less brown, as used by the Army:

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The liner is the proper type with netting and oilskin:

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The chinstrap loops are attached with a rivet instead of the split pins used on British and Canadian helmets:

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There is a label in the dome of the helmet with "instructions":

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The EGA device is World War I issue with latitude and longitude lines. It is made of brass and was painted black:

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The EGA is held on by a thumbscrew, also original to the period:

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This helmet has a manufacturing mark of ZC46. ZC has been attributed to a firm in Terre Haute Indiana, but I’m not sure that this has ever been confirmed.

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The problem is; this helmet never existed. The United States Marine Corps never issued a helmet like the one pictured above. The US Marine Corps issued the very same type of helmet as the Army. There was no EGA device or divisional patch painted on an issue helmet.

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At the start of World War I the Marine Corps didn’t have a helmet. They wore the familiar campaign hat that had been used since before the Spanish American War. When the US entered WWI it adopted the British pattern helmet and designated it as the M1917. The Marines were issued this helmet and there was no EGA device attached. Here is a photo of Marines in France at a decoration ceremony:

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US Marines are extremely proud of their “Eagle, Globe, and Anchor” device and we are known to put it on everything from our skin to our automobiles. The EGA on these helmets is no different. These were added by the Marine either in the field or (more often) on the long boat ride home. There is evidence that the EGA was worn in France by some Marines. Note that three of the Marines photographed here in Belleau Wood are wearing the EGA device:

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The EGA device was also added stateside well after the fact. I have heard that a punched hole was “original” but a drilled hole was not. This is not really true either. A drilled hole could simply mean that a veteran attached the EGA in his garage after he returned from the war. The point is that there is no such thing as an “original” helmet like this. Provenance is the most important thing to know about one of these helmets; who owned it, where was he, and when did he add the device?
Many believe that adding the EGA device to the helmet was prompted by recruiting posters at the time:

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This may be true, but it has been my experience that a Marine doesn’t require much “prompting” to put the EGA on a piece of his gear.

The M1917 continued in use until 1941 and many examples have an EGA device attached. This was probably more prominent for Marine Barracks, sea duty, and guard than it was throughout the fleet. I can find no order saying that an EGA device must be attached to a helmet. This may have happened on a unit basis to provide uniformity (the Marine Corps is big on uniformity, especially in garrison), but there was no directive fleet wide. The EGA device on these helmets was probably more a product of Hollywood than it was Headquarters US Marine Corps.

By the way, this tradition continues to this day. Ever since I joined the Corps my cover had always had an EGA device on it. In 1990 the Marines were outfitted with brown “chocolate chip” camouflage utilities. A “boonie” hat was to be worn with this uniform and it was issued without an EGA.

Whiskey - Tango - Foxtrot!

Here is mine:

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Some things never change!

Semper Fi,
John :salute:

Another post on this subject can be found here:
http://pickelhaubes.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=985&hilit=marine" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Good information John. I would add one point about "never existed." The United States NEVER used a Brodie helmet. The United States used a Model 1917 helmet, based on the British MkI, which was an improvement over the Brodie pattern developed by John Brodie. That might sound like nitpicking, but the Brodie pattern is a slightly different model. The earliest versions utilized a different metal and if memory serves had a raw edge.

Here is what I have from an article I wrote on the subject a decade ago:

The latest research on the subject of these helmets breaks these down into two types. The “Type A” Brodie featured a dome with a slightly flat top, with the brim approximately 40mm at the front and rear, and about 50mm at each side. The “Type B” featured a smaller brim and this may account for the variations in the earliest British helmets. While the very first Type A helmets were used for experimental purposes, it is now believed that up to several hundred Type B helmets were actually field tested in France. However, to add to the confusion, it was the Type A helmet that proved to be the superior design, and it was produced in mass, with some 20,000 being issued to the troops on the front line.
The liners of these first helmets consisted of padding fixed to the crown, along with a single piece of six-tongued leather. There were 12 pieces of tubular rubber around the headband to provide cushioning. The liner was mounted to the top of the helmet by a single copper rivet. The chinstrap was constructed of a strip of leather about 16mm wide and about 2mm thick, and it passed through metal loops on each side of the helmet.
The first Brodie helmets arrived in France in the latter half of 1915. This date of course conflicts with the stated belief that the British helmets were adopted in 1916, but that will soon be made clearer.
When the helmets received their baptism of fire, several problems were encountered with the Brodie design, including the unfinished edge of the helmet, while the shell itself was deemed too shallow. This led to a new helmet that was dubbed the Helmet, Steel, Mark I (MkI). It is important to stress that today collectors often refer universally to all British WWI helmets as “Brodies,” but in fact a Brodie and the MkI are different models. While based on the original Brodie design, the MkI is entirely a different helmet model on the evolutionary family tree of British helmets. It was also produced of non-magnetic manganese steel – and this too adds to the confusion over telling a Brodie from the later MkI.
The early “Type A” and “Type B” Brodie helmets were made of thin gauge of magnetic steel, but the later “Type A” – the ones made in mass – were produced from this new manganese steel. Thus some advanced collectors swear by the magnetic test to confirm that a helmet is a Brodie, and not a cut down or otherwise altered MkI, but the point remains that there are Brodie helmets that are non-magnetic.
Improvements to the MkI included an improved liner. This consisted of pad of layers of lint, asbestos and felt, which was affixed to the helmet by means of a single copper rivet. The rivet also held the chinstrap to the dome of the helmet, as well as the headband. The band consisted of cotton wool covered with leather-cloth. Instead of the tongues used with the Brodie, the MkI utilized netting for adjustment to the head. And while the helmet shell was only produced in a single size, the helmet liner was made in four sizes. The edge of the helmet was fitted with a mild steel rim – and often times Brodies are encountered where the owner may just simply think this rim is missing!
 
One other point to make on the USMC helmets is that the EGA was worn in limited capacity on the Model 1917A1 helmets, which were sometimes known as the "Kelly Helmet." These featured the improved liner and were used at the end of the 1930s and were still in use when America entered World War II.

I have one in my collection, but despite what sellers may suggest these were not used at places like Wake Island but more like at USMC bases in South Carolina and San Diego, and possibly some embassies. The one I have appeared in Chris Armold's book Steel Pots, and came from Armold's collection. I've owned it for more than a decade.
 
Peter_Suciu said:
One other point to make on the USMC helmets is that the EGA was worn in limited capacity on the Model 1917A1 helmets, which were sometimes known as the "Kelly Helmet." These featured the improved liner and were used at the end of the 1930s and were still in use when America entered World War II.

I have one in my collection, but despite what sellers may suggest these were not used at places like Wake Island but more like at USMC bases in South Carolina and San Diego, and possibly some embassies. The one I have appeared in Chris Armold's book Steel Pots, and came from Armold's collection. I've owned it for more than a decade.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the education. I do not have a British helmet and was unaware of the "Brodie's" complex history.

My point is the same as yours. The M1917 was never issued out of US Marine Corps Supply with an EGA attached. Attaching the EGA was always done by individual Marines at the unit level. Some commanders may have mandated it, but it was never USMC regulation.

I have had this helmet for years, and I got it the way you see it. I knew the history because my family was largely USMC, including myself. I continue to see these on Ebay as "Original USMC WW1 Helmet", or "Rare USMC Version WW1 Helmet", when, in fact, they were never issued like this.

One would have no way of knowing whether or not an EGA device was added on the fields of France in 1917 or added in a Phoenix garage in 2017.

There are, of course, the obvious fakes which utilize a WW1 helmet with a brand new, modern era, EGA. There have been many changes to the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor device since World War 1 and collectors need to take this into account as well.

Semper Fi,
John :salute:
 
Good stuff guys, have owned a couple of these over the years, and never really new if they where good or not, so off they went.

James
 
The reason I have always doubted the helmets with the EGA is shown in the 9th photo of the attachment. How many boys are going to want that stud striking their forehead in battle?
 
Here is further photographic evidence showing the progression of the EGA attachment to the 1917 helmet:

Marines arrive in France shortly before the battle of Belleau Wood. Not a single EGA can be seen.

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Marines photographed after the battle of Belleau Wood, June 1918. Three EGA's can be identified.

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Marines participate in a homecoming parade in 1919. No helmet is without the EGA device.

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John :)
 
Very interesting post with great pictures. I have learned much, my thanks to all.
 
One more I wish the photo's could be restored to...... interesting reading but the photo's would help much more...
 
I will update the photos in the next couple of days.
After the photobucket and picorator snafu's I am slowly, but surely, getting caught up once again.
I'll leave a post when they are updated so you will know they are back.

John
 
The 1937 Uniform regulation make no mention of an EGA on the helmet and the photo of the helmet in the regs does not have one. As a follow up to this my father was a Marine in WWII, none of his field uniforms had EGAs on it, not his denims, not his field jacket (M43) nor is fatigue cap (P44).
 
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