Mk II British Camo with a Canadian twist

[Canuck67]

This particular Mk II helmet was acquired as part of a grouping I do know it has traveled through a couple of sets of hands before reaching mine it is attributed to a Canadian veteran that served with the Royal Canadian Artillery 5th Light Anti Aircraft and his BD is dated to 1943 and is sporting cloth divy's for Italy and canvas unit and Canada flashes I will post the BD up in a different thread.
This camo painted Mk II is rather an interesting helmet there is a lot going on with it the shell is British manufactured but has a smooth finish so IMO not a standard army issued Mk II .
The helmet body was produced by (EC&CO Ltd) E Carmeliant & Co Ltd Birmingham and is 1940 dated now here is were things get rather interesting it is sporting a 1942 dated VMC liner
( Viceroy Manufacturing Company) and a Canadian war time period chinstrap there is period evidence in the form of images to support this type of camo pattern was worn in the theater of operations in Italy,Sicily and or South western Europe.
The liner and chinstrap look to have been in this helmet for many years and IMO the camo looks good and shows some nice aging and patina I would love to know how and were this helmet came to be in this configuration.

Regards Mark

[Canuck67]

X-2

[ROBB]

Did someone attack it with a stanley knife ? Rob

[Canuck67]

Hi Robb IMO it is a good period camo and you have seen and commented on it before over at GHW II .
As to what appears to be cuts and multiple fracturers for the most part only appear in the tan paint some of which is do to paint shrinkage which for what ever reason has not adhered to the shell as well as the texturered paint as to the straighter lines your referring to your guess is as good as mine to what the source is

Regards Mark

[Canuck67]

While snooping around this morning I came upon a couple of images the first picturer is of a British Universal Carrier Mark I comes ashore during the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943.
And could not help but notice the camo pattern on the drivers Mk II the second image is thought to have been taken in Sicily as well.

Regards Mark

[ROBB]

Looks like your man driving the Bren gun carrier . Interesting to see how clear the camo was before any fading or age , in the bottom photo . Rob

[Canuck67]

Thanks for the input Robb and the camo pattern is very comparable to the two images shown above it would be interesting to see some period color pictures of the same.

Regards Mark