As an old "Steel Pot" Marine, I appreciate the interesting information about this famously shaped combat helmet. This is what I wore during two tours as a grunt in Vietnam. Thanks.
God yes I remember my M1 Steel "Skid-Lid". An old Korean era Sergeant Major in my first permeant party unit (2nd Armored Div. Fort Hood Tx.) showed me how to remove the interior paint, prepare it and "season" the steel shell for cooking, and also how to maintain it and prevent rusting. Treat it like you would a good quality cast iron skillet and it will serve you well. It was the do everything tool (helmet, wash basin, cooking pot and entrenching tool, make shift club, or sitting stool), try that with a modern Kevlar helmet. I still have mine, when they were being removed from service I had our supply sergeant bill me for a field damage/lose and was given a receipt of purchase to own it as surplus.
As a retired Army Officer, the four things I hated giving up through 32 years of active service, my M-14, my M-1 Helmet, my Colt .45, and my Jeep. Thank God I was long retired and missed the greatest travesty, taking the Black Beret away from the 75th Ranger Regiment. The Tan one The Ranger Association sent me has no meaning....
I still have my father's helmet liner from WW2. My brother wore the M1 in Vietnam. He said it bounced when he ran, and he had to hold it with one hand.
As one who wore both the M1 and the kevlar the steel pot had many advantages. It made a great “sink” for assorted uses. The liners were useful too in hot climates
Dear Dr mark Felton, I have things to do , a job, a family, house chores . Yet here I sit day after day one video leads to another must watch and darkness falls nothing done but a history full of mark Felton productions . Thanks for making my days and ruining them all at the same time!
I started in the US Army back in 1986 issued with one. By 1988 the Army finally went to all Kevlar helmets. I retired in 2009 with the modified MICH helmet. I still have and M1, PASGT, and MICH in my collection.
My father went in the Marines back in '81. He was Marine Force Recon, he started off with a modified M1 for airborne use and transitioned to the PASGT around the time of Grenada. He liked the PASGT for it's protection, but was always partial to the M1 for the way it wore.
I only have one M1 helmet. But it was my helmet in jump school in 1977. Glad I have it. It still has my trainee number (T173) on masking tape on the front.
I was issued my first M1 helmet in October, 1960 and turned in my last in 1984. I did not have one in all of my assignments but I was always issued one when assigned to a combat unit. In the Berlin Brigade every soldier and every officer had two helmet liners, one to wear under their steel "pots" and the other, called a Spandau for parades, guard duty, and other formal occasions. The Spandau.was painted dark blue with applied decals. At training centers Cadre wore painted helmet liner to differentiate them from the trainees.
With a few minor modifications the M1 was also turned into a good paratrooper helmet. A different chinstrap at the very least. By my time we had an additional foam pad at the back which I doubt the US had in WW 2.
Wore the M1 in the Air Force ( security police) in the late 70s and through all my Army guard service in the 80s. Was not issued a Kevlar until we were getting ready to ship out to Saudi for the first Gulf. I don't know what others experienced, but I guess the California ARNG was in no hurry to equip its units with the Kevlar helmets, even though they were in use by the regular forces several years before, until they absolutely had to.
We used an M1 variant in the Canadian Army until the CG 634 helmet was adopted in 1997. I still have my old parachutist's helmet with the reversible "Mitchell" pattern camouflage cover and jumper's helmet liner. The special jumper's liner featured a second chin strap and a foam rubber pad at the back of the head, just in case.
Man in the 1970s and 1980s I wore my M-1 Helmet . I cooked in it, shaved in it and even took a BATH in it. :) Thanks Mark, 1974 US Army Boot Camp: Today I wear a scare across the top of my nose from an M-1 Steel Pot creasing me one night. :) We were at Ft Polk LA. Night ambush training. We walked into an ambush and was told to "GET DOWN" in the prone position. Well I did, and the rim of the steel pot 'bit me' right across my schnooz...LOL If I recall correctly, ours didnt have a chin strap on it, so it just rattled around on top of your head. :) .... Us old US Army Veterans sure like your videos and you preserving our History! Thanks brother - Herb A Staff Sgt. in the US Army ..........."Cavalry Scout"
the m1 type helmet was in use in the Norwegian army until the late 90s and early 2000s, together with other outdated equipment and weapons, such as the mp40 and Suomi m31 in use til 1995
In the Army 1967 we wore just the liners in training, much lighter. I wore the MI in the Infantry Vietnam. We had a camo cover for which the Army provided an elastic band at the base to keep it neat but the Marines did not (about the only way to tell the services apart from combat pictures). Also we never employed the chin strap but buckled it behind the helmet even though that meant the helmet could fall off when running and jumping around.
Cool vid. I used to have one of these exact helmets I received as B-day gift when I was about tenbut sold it at garage sale when I was teenager. I still haven't forgiven myself.
Mr. Felton, Sir, thank you for this video. Collecting military helmets it's one of my hobbies, and so far I was able to gather a modest 30-and-something helmets, from various countries and armies, most of them original pieces issued during and after WW 2 (+ some replicas of WW1 helmets). I have two US M1s in my collection, one made in 1956 and another in 1979 (bought both of them via ebay). This being said, I hope you will consider the idea of making more videos about WW2 and Cold War helmets - some of them have fascinating stories! For example, the DDR (German Democratic Republic) helmet, designed by Nazis and rejected by Hitler due to propaganda reasons (!), adopted by Eastern Germany only because Hitler refusal :-) and used up to the collapse of Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. Or the Romanian helmet of WW2, bought from Holland before (and used during) the war to Stalingrad and back, then replaced by the Soviet helmet in 50s, only to be re-designed and reintroduced by the Romanian Socialist (and nationalist) regime of Nicolae Ceausescu in 60s, and finally replaced in 2000s by the NATO standard, modern kevlar-made helmet. Thanks again for your video(s). And best from Bucharest!
I remember during the Grenada campaign, there were US troops equipped with the M1 helmet and then other troops who were wearing the then new Kevlar one.
My father has a M1 with some bullet holes in it. Found it in Nijmegen after the battle in 1944, when he was a kid. Myself wore a M1 during my service in West-Germany in 1987. Because my head is a little big at the back, I had the biggest size available. A few years later the Dutch army got the kevlar helmets.
I finally had to turn in my M-1 Steel Pot for a Fritz Helmet in 1989. In the 1970s and 1980s the vast majority of our CIF Issue was brand new straight out of the box by made in 1945.
My steel pot had a chrome liner which I didn't know about until I pulled them apart several days later when I was cleaning it. I immediately knew it was for honor guard or parade ground use. Sadly though since it came to me all as 1 piece, when I separated the 2 there was a heavy single trail of blood from the right mid rear up to almost the crown on the outside of the liner. I later found out it had been in storage since vietnam until I got it in 1984. Have no idea whose it was or what happened to them. Odd, I'm sure a parade liner was uncommon to have outside of a select group.
A very close friend of mine, who was a veteran of the First World War, Arthur Pursell (1890-1986), told me the main danger in that war was the artillery, not machine guns. You had to be able to hear shells approaching to stay alive. He thought one big advantage of the Brodie helmet was you could hear much better in it. And it was much easier in a foxhole, to slide it over to cover your face. Said he’d tried on captured German helmets, and didn’t know how they could hear incoming shells in time. Their helmets so attenuated the sound to your ears.
McCord Radiator was located in Detroit and made many products for cars including mufflers and gaskets. They were perfectly suited for helmet production due to their expertise in stamping steel. Besides the helmets, their advertising signs, clocks and thermometers are highly prized by collectors.
I have great respect for the M1 helmet because it saved my face. On the 4th of July I wore my replica of the helmet I got as a gift from my grandfather. I was lighting a firecracker and it exploded to early. I was able to tilt my head away just enough for the helmet to take much of the fire that flew out. If I hadn't worn one I probably would have a scar on my forehead. True story.
When i exited the USAF in 1993, They were STILL current issue to all troops except Security Police, Pararescue and Combat Controllers.....It fit righteously when you had a gas mask on, but seemed to roll and bounce alot otherwise.... When running, one hand on top to keep from falling off..........
Interesting! I just checked my last one & it is early ww2, I kept that one because it was the only one in the pile with the stainless trim. 20 yrs ago I bought 100 if these for $25 from Smith & Edwards surplus in Utah. There was more than enough of them rotting into the ground to fill a 40ft shipping container & my 100 barely made a dent in the stack.
It is one of those helmets that ended up being spread around the world. Even if the helmets other countries used weren't made in America the design certainly was inspired by the M1. The fact it remained in use over forty years after its introduction proved it was a serviceable design.
We still had them in Grenada and Beruit .We were the last unit to pull out of Beruit we took many a bird bart in them .We didnt get Kevlars until the summer of 1984
Was issued one when I enlisted in the Australian army 92.. The only time I ever carried/ wore it was at on the grenade ranges, otherwise it stayed at home
How confusing,into the Q store,er requisition an M1,well soldier,is that an M1 Garand ? an M1 carbine ? an M1 tank ? an M1 helmet ? or anything else ??
It's rather easy. More so that trying to remember all sorts of date designations for equipment, vehicles and weapons which can vary wildly. It's much easier to request M1 Rifle, M1 Carbine, M1 Sub-machine gun, M1 Helmet, M3 Sub-machine gun, M1A1 Carbine, etc. Anyone who isn't a complete dumbass would have a hard time being confused by the designation system when their job revolves around it.
This is what we used in basic in 88. My rifle in basic was a practically silver receiver A1 with triangle handguard. Who knows how many times it had been rebuilt from parts and pieces until it found its way to me.
I was part of a color guard in the US Army several times and we were issued chrome M1 helmets. I was also part of a large contingent that served as riot troops at the 1973 Inauguration and we were issued face shields that attached to our M1 helmets. I was never in an airborne unit so I never recall anyone using the chin strap on their helmet. That's my experience but I'm not sure if that was typical or not.
I've had one of these on display in my man cave for years. Never gave it much thought after I got it. It was milsurp from Denmark. I bought a VietNam era cover for it, for display. The only other time I handled it was to recover it from my grandson, playing with it outside. After watching this vid I checked it out, and it's a WWII McCord. Three digits followed by what looks like an "A". Kinda hard to see because it's obviously been refinished. Thanks for the info.
That's the helmet that I wore starting in 1979. If you took the liner out of it, it could be used as a pot to cook in, as a basin to wash in, or as a bucket.
we were issued M1 helmets in the Canadian army as well from the 60's through to the early 90's where they were replaced by the Kevlar 'fritz' style modern ballistic helmet.
We would spray paint our steel pots, usually once a year, before an Inspector General (IG) inspection. New paint would conceal rust along the seam. You could tell the units preparing for the IG by the sidewalks and company street areas with paint on the ground; between Ardennes & Gruber in the Division area, Ft Bragg.
I had one of each. The first was either British or very old US. It was in my grandparents basement in San Gabriel, Calif. The second one, a US Navy M1 issued to me on my ship in 1971. I have too much stuff. Got rid of these when thinning out posessions. Now I'm sorry and wish I had them back.
This channel connects me with people I might have known in better times, and I want to thank you Mark for helping me to know their experiences and celebrate their lives!
One of the advantages of the “steel pot” was that you could cook in it.I remember in ‘Nam we had was called a “potluck”, that was throwing all kinds of C rations together into the “pot” and stirring it.You can’t do that with a Kevlar helmet.
We used later versions, in the Australian Army into the 80's. Rarely wore them, strung them in our packs with 2 ocky straps. Aside from that it was useful as a seat, or to lean your rifle on ti keep it out of the mud, or, if you scrubbed the paint off, a cooking pot for stews of ration packs. Which invariably resulted in being told off when caught.
I was in the Army from 1979 to 1992. I used the M1 from 1979 till 1985. I have to admit the Kevlar, or K-Pot as we used to call it, was far better hen it came to ballistic performance but no where near as versatile as the good old M1. You could cook food in it, ramen noodles and believe it not popcorn. You could wash with it, melt snow in it for drinking water and even dig a hole it in an emergency. I almost feel sorry for the soldiers that I’ll never how versatile the old steel pot was.
They were used in the Australian Army until the mid to late 80s. We hated them and they were rarely worn. It was a bush or a slouch hat until the lighter Kevlars came in. The 'old and bolds hated them as well.
During my basic training in the 80s we had the crappy old British army helmets with the spider lining and whopping great spike in the middle. Very primitive and hurt like hell when your mate slapped down on top!
Sadly the chin straps were not often used as depicted in many of your photos. This resulted in many men getting wounded and killed, the blast from high explosive ordinance would blow the helmet off the guys head, leaving him un protected for the following shrapnel. This not wearing chip straps is still carried out today on construction sites etc. around the world, the wearer stumbles, the helmet falls off, the worker fall striking his head. Something the helmet was designed to prevent.
Great video!!! Wore this style of head cover while in US army from 1981-1985, when the Kevlar began replacing it. Loved the "steel pot" for it literally had 101+ uses - only limited to ones imagination. The Kevlar.....it did its job and served its purposes.
