WW1 trench helmet in Vancouver

It looks for all the world like a relic of the slash-and-stab era of medieval combat, and that's actually what inspired its design. But the artifact at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is a rare example of a World War I experiment. . .

The steel helmet was recovered during excavations just northeast of the reconstructed fort in 1971, said Bob Cromwell, a National Park Service archaeologist. It probably was manufactured by the Ford Motor Co. in November 1918 . . .

It's officially a U.S. Army Model 8 helmet . . . and only 1,300 were made.

Note that Bashford Dean's 1920 Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare is available online here.

Posted by David on March 23, 2007 10:15 AM