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British WWII Rescue Party steel helmet | World War Two143 of 818 |  |  |
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Posted 6 months ago
petey
(298 items)
British WWII Rescue Party steel helmet. Painted white so it was more visible in the blackout, with an R to the front and rear. Rescue Party's did as the name suggests, rescued people from bomb damaged areas, collapsed buildings etc. This helmet is named to owner.
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Military HelmetsThe need to protect the head in battle has inspired a range of solutions ov…
World War TwoThe events and battles of World War II played out on every continent of the…
love it :) cool :)
They were painted white to donate rank, in this case a rescue party foreman. Nice to see the name tag.
Thanks for looking, BELLIN68, miKKoChristmas11, JueBoo, walksoftly, kerry10456 and tinlid. I have seen mentioned that the white paint was to denote rank, but I still have an open mind about that. I always thought rank was denoted by stripes or diamonds painted on the helmet. If it was a uniform requirement to denote rank by painting helmets white, I would have thought they would all be the same, however some are not (see the next post) however I also think you may be right, but it did not seem to be a hard and fast rule.
There's official, semi official, & non official markings on these home front helmets that's what makes them so nice to collect. There was a meeting of all the ARP in London in 40 or 41 & the top brass were stunned to see so many different colours & markings that the following year they tried to standardize them. ( not very successfully)
Ah, that would explain it, cheers, tinlid. Now I know you have a good knowledge on helmets, can't wait to see your collection. Please!
Thanks for looking Manikin
Thanks for looking PhilDavidAlexanderMorris.