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Souvenir and
Veteran Captured Helmets |
| One of the more
interesting of collectibles are those helmets which have been hand
painted with the names and locations that a particular veteran saw
service time. These helmets are unique in the sense that each is
very different from the other and all have been hand personalized by a
veteran. Souvenir and veteran painted helmets are common only to
Allied soldiers of the UK and the US, although some can also be found
among those who served with Canadian troops during World War II.
The style and type of decoration applied
to these hand painted helmets varies greatly. Depending on the
skill of the soldier who painted the helmet, the decoration can be
very artistic or quite simple in nature. Most helmets of this
type have fancy labels and designations that denote the actual place
in which the veteran actually lived or was stationed. These
labels can sometimes be countries or towns as well as the names of
battles or larger campaigns. Of course many souvenir helmets
bear no hand painted labels but still represent a "wartime trophy" in
that they have come back from the war in the duffle bag of an Allied
serviceman. Many of these souvenir helmets bear testimony to the
fierce combat seen during World War II. Such a helmet can be
seen in the photographs of
an M1940
Combat Police helmet brought back by a US Serviceman with the
487th Engineers, as well as the
Luftschutz
helmet captured by Robert L. Williams of the 506th Parachute
Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division.
Helmets with painted battle locations
on their surface are not
necessarily sought after collectibles when it comes to those who
prefer unaltered original examples. However, the interest in
these helmets is enough to have created a small niche within the
helmet collecting community where many actively seek this kind of
helmet because of their unusual appearance. Of course, helmets
of this kind can also be "faked" in the sense that anyone with
artistic ability could alter an original helmet to make it appear like
an original. Fortunately, this has not been a widespread
practice since the majority of collectors do not actively seek this
kind of collectible as their primary goal.
If you have an interesting veteran painted
helmet that you would like to share photos of please contact the webmaster for
further information.
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A
Veteran Painted Luftschutz Helmet. |
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Overview
Each section of German-Helmets.com
is divided into separate Information Tracks that outline important
details, facts, and historical notes pertaining to steel helmets used by
the German Armed Forces during World War II.
Information Tracks are organized by
subject matter and their content is directly related to the service arm or
organization to which each topic is related. Topic areas that bridge
one subject matter to another are cross linked within each Information
Track.
This Information Track provides historical
facts pertaining to souvenir and veteran painted helmets. Individual
links related to this subject are outlined below.
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