Whenever I see a movie or a photo of helmeted US soldiers in WWII or Vietnam, whether in action or not, their chin strap is always undone or put over the front part of the helmet. What is with that? Souldn’t it be buckled up so that the helmet doesn’t fall off? Or was it some sort of a statement, cool thing to do?
Any explanations?
Thanks…
I think I saw exactly one man wearing the chin strap in Vietnam! A steel pot wasn’t exactly a fashion statement, and most didn’t even wear one unless they just had to. I don’t think mine even had a chin strap on it! And that would have been by choice.
gary
Anecdotally, soldiers wouldn’t strap the buckle down in order for the helmet to be blown off if concussive forces hit the dude. You’d rather have the helmet thrown off rather than it be an additional force against the neck/chin.
Also know that GIs had a plastic inner liner (often worn on “soft” duty) and then the steel pot atop of it. A company introduced brass GI helmets with an inner framework but didn’t realize that there should be a secondary shell inside. Oops.
Outside of AIT I never fastened the chin strap. Still have the helmet too.
This would be a good one for MythBusters. I would image that if the concussive force is strong enough to seriously injury your neck/chin while wearing the chinstrap, the consussive force would kill you anyway.
Hmmm… I just ran across this blurb on the Wikipedia listing of the M1
“During World War II and later, many soldiers wore the webbing chinstraps unfastened or looped around the back of the helmet and clipped together. This practice arose for two reasons: First, because hand-to-hand combat was anticipated, and an enemy could be expected to attack from behind, reach over the helmet, grab its visor, and pull. If the chinstrap were worn, the head would be snapped back, causing the victim to lose balance, and leave the throat and stomach exposed to a knife thrust. Secondly, many men incorrectly believed that a nearby exploding bomb or artillery shell could cause the chinstrap to snap their neck when the helmet was caught in its concussive force, although a replacement buckle, the T-1 pressure-release buckle, was manufactured that allowed the chinstrap to release automatically should this occur. In place of the chinstrap, the nape strap inside the liner was counted on to provide sufficient contact to keep the helmet from easily falling off the wearer’s head.”
Thought so. I’ve been close to some pretty powerful explosion. Some of them caused me to black out for a few seconds. Not once did the helmet I was wearing cause any problems.
I specifically modeled that phenomenon here:
Interesting thing is that there are typically TWO straps to be seen: the chin strap in khaki on the rear, and a thinner, leather colored one on the front…what is the front strap for?
The leather strap was attached to the inner fiber helmet liner. The cloth chin strap was attached to the outer steel pot. As for the purpose of the leather strap??? it looks more decorative or parade ground than functional