Korean War Uniform Question

Apr 25, 2010 6 Replies

Heya folks!



Workin' on building a bunch of weapon systems from the Korean 'Fratricidal War' (that's the name for it over here in teh RoK) and I'm picking up the Commonwealth armour kits now.



What helmet did they wear in combat? I've been doing some googling and not coming up with any satisfactory pics or info. I would SUSPECT that it would be the WWII unit with the wide brim, but I distinctly recall a few episodes of M*A*S*H werein the limeys wer portrayed with the US tin- pots.



Knowing that the TV show strove very hard for as much accuracy as possible, which helmet is it?



advTHANXance!


-ahill


Not sure about the helmets, but accuracy? I know of 2 occasions where they mentioned wrong a/c. No, I don't mean subbing a PT-22 for '5 o'clock Charlie' or whatever. The episode where the USO bunch was in town, Potter tells the older chick that he thinks of her every time he sees a C-42 running up. Yeah, they're all over the place. The other is where they're trying to get an incubator I think & the General or Colonel they're talking with mentions among the things he can get is the occasional odd B-52. I guess he knew something the USAF didn't. I know it flew in the early '50s, but I don't think they were quite available during Korea. I think there was another mis-named a/c as well. I dunno how much I'd trust 'em.

On Apr 25, 7:18=A0am, " snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" wrote:

Hopefully that's sarcasm - M*A*S*H is a poor source for authenticity of US mil in Korea.

You can't go wrong with the MKIII-IV Turtle. Even if the M1 pisspot were correct for Commonwealth (doubtful) or UN/NATO forces in the RoK '50-53, I'd consider a little artistic license here. A Free French soldier marching on Paris in the summer of 1944 will be all but indistingushable from a US dogface in the absence of a Croix De Lorraine or Tricolore to que on.

WmB

If by wide brim, you mean the wide, oval helmet worn in 1940, then no, they wouldn't have those in Korea. A new helmet was designed in 1944, which did not resemble the US M1 helmet. It looks more like the old Dutch helmets from 1940--deeper around the head with a pronounced "tail." It wasn't universally issued during World War Two, but would have been ubiquitous by 1950. Of course, UK troops have often worn soft caps in circumstances where US troop would be wearing helmets. Gerald Owens

formatting link
A Google image search on "korean war era us helmet" or "korean war era us soldiers" will yield tons of examples...

This might help. Australian troops often appear not to wear them, such as here:

formatting link
These are some I found with Australian troops wearing a helmet:

formatting link
formatting link
formatting link
formatting link
formatting link
formatting link
formatting link
formatting link
They did wear the US-style helmet at latter stages of the war, though:

formatting link
formatting link
Perhaps because they patrolling the DMZ?

Thanks! That's just what I was looking for!

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required