Picked this up a couple of weeks ago, at an autojumble here in the UK, sellers only detail was it came from a ex British soldier and was thought to be a WW2 US helmet. I recognised the helmet net as possible Argentine issue, though the cover looked very amateur. Named to the liner straps as Gladys Tano (I think) and a couple of words that are unreadable, there is no name on the white label, on the liner straps. The rubber band is stuck firm to the cover and I've not tried to remove it or the cover, there are matching rust patches from the shell inner to the cover, where they have been together a long time. Pictures show the numbers to the inner shell and a blue/white emblem to the outer of the liner. The mystery to me is the name Gladys as this is a female first name and although I believe there were Argentine nurses on the Falklands, why would they have a camo/netted helmet, if in fact it was one of theirs ?
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More photos. -
Numbers on the shell.Comment
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Well bizarrely there is a Gladys Tano in Uruguay which is right next door to Argentina. Certainly looks like an Argee Bargee helmet has the correct chinstraps , probably bought back by a soldier called Geordie and I am going out on a limb here but I'm guessing he is from New Astle. Rob
https://www.facebook.com/gladys.tanoGod please take justin bieber and gave us dio backComment
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God please take justin bieber and gave us dio backComment
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As an Argie myself, I found this most interesting. The helmet definitely looks Argentine, but I can't be 100% sure. Most countries in Latin America used the M1 and Gladys Tano sounds like a name you could find in any Spanish-speaking country. I guess the first thing to do would be to determine accurately that this is, in fact, an Argentine M1.
I did a quick research on-line: during the war, there were 13 women with rank of First Corporal working in the Argentine Air Force's mobile hospital in Comodoro Rivadavia (South of Argentina), together with an undetermined number of civilian female assistants. Six other women (I believe civilians) worked as nurses in the hospital ship "Almirante IrÃzar", as well as a couple more in merchant ships.
None of these medical personel set foot on the islands during the conflict, with the sole exception of one, whose name wasn't Gladys Tano. That name doesn't show up in any of the articles I read.
Cheers,
NicolasComment
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Some picsComment
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Thankyou Robb and Nicolas for your replies, it's a bit of a mystery but the one thing I can't read/make out is the writing on the central strap, which you can see starts Tan----rin ?, could Gladys be a soldiers wifes name that he put in it ?
Also from one of Robbs posts, a Wooly77 posted some photos of a helmet he picked up on the Falklands, which is very similar with the cut fabric camo cover/netting and the yellow number on the inner of the helmet (photos from that post below).
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...gentine+helmetComment
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The girlfriend/wife, of course, how didn't I think of that before? As you may know, many Argentines have some Italian background (I think it's well over 40% of us). Now, the term "tano" in Argentina is a very common nickname for an Italian or someone with a strong Italian background (it's not peyorative at all, btw). There are therefore thousands of Argentines whose nickname is "Tano". So, "Tano" was the soldier and Gladys, his lady.
That leaves us in the same spot, it could be any of the thousands of soldiers that were sent to the islands. The light blue inscription, though, could be an important piece in the puzzle. I see "Ta....urin...". Have you tried a magnifying glass?
Cheers,
NicolasComment
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Hi Nicolas, I think it is Tamburin, there is also on the leather sweat band TAM just readable before it fades away.
Regards GaryComment
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