Japanese "Tarawa" Helmet - Star Question

[William J]

Awhile back I purchased the Japanese combat helmet below. With the helmet came a letter dated 1984 that was supposedly written by a Marine Sgt recounting his experiences on Tarawa and his account of acquiring this helmet. My question does not have to do with the letter's veracity. The helmet is no doubt a true combat helmet, and with a considerable bit of light pitting throughout. The leather liner band is broken and held in place by the rivets and star.

It is the star that has me curious. As the pictures will show, it has a quite old application of gold paint on it that reminds me of the gold "decoupage" paint of the 70's. Does it appear that the star is original (aside from the paint) or a reproduction added later? I am not concerned if the vet decided to touch up an original star, but I would be if the star is incorrect.

I will also show pics of the interesting helmet including the owner's name stitched into the liner.

Thank you in advance!

William

[William J]

Star Close-Up

detail

[William J]

Another view

star

[William J]

Liner

Interior

[William J]

Original Owner's Name

Does anyone know what these characters represent?

[William J]

TARAWA written inside

While I know this could have been added anytime, it does appear to be old with age through the writing.

[Homer Hodge]

William, While I cannot comment on the originality of the helmet star per se, I have done a fair amount of research on Japanese forces in World War II to include the battle for Tarawa Atoll. The Japanese force defending the island of Betio (where the battle was actually fought) was the 3rd Special Base Force which consisted of Yokusuka 6th and Sasebo 7th Special Naval Landing Forces (Kaigun Riku Sentai in Japanese) plus various other naval units. These forces were all Japanese Navy units; therefore, the insignia on their helmets would have been a metal anchor with the imperial chrysanthemum superimposed over it rather than the Japanese Army star. Therefore, the vast majority if not all of the helmets worn by the defenders would have worn helmets with anchors rather than stars. Unless I had complete trust in the originial source of the helmet, I would have doubts about the story and wonder if someone took an Army helmet and "monkeyed" with it to enhance its value. I cannot quite make out the stitched characters; however, the second character may be part of a family name. Hope this helps, Homer

[William J]

Actually, that fits the story...sort of!

In the original letter, it states "This helmet was taken off a six foot tall gook who was a naval infantry man".....

When I read that, I also thought the helmet should have had the anchor/mum insignia rather than the star, but I guess anything is possible (not holding out false hope just commenting that a naval soldier wearing an army helmet would not be out of the realm...) Actually if it turns out to be a bad star, it may be that the original insignia was the anchor/mum which was lost or discarded before being replaced. At this point in time, I guess we'll never know.

[Jareth]

William, if there had originally been a navy badge you'd be able to see where it left it's outline on the paint. From what I can see there's always been a star on that helmet.

[William J]

No outline except of a star

That's a good point Jareth, and one I hadn't considered. Does anyone want to make a guess as to whether the star is authentic (I am still assuming if it is that the gold paint was postwar applied).

[Eric Doody]

William,

It sure looks like the star insignia has been on the helmet for a while.

I would like to see what the prongs of the insignia look like.

Also, there are a few different ways to tell a Army helmet from a Navy helmet outside of the difference in insignia. For example, is the liner sized marked in the smooth area of the liner band in the rear of the helmet? (The size marking would be in kanji and would be punched into the liner band.) Is there a white painted size marking on the rear inside rim of the helmet? (The size marking would be in kanji.) Is the underside of the front liner pad manufacturer marked and dated?

Eric

[blinky]

One thing, and I'm not saying the star is original to the helmet or not, if you look at the rust around and over the writing "Tarawa", it appears to have been there for a long time. It's very possible the star could have been added in 1944 to a Navy helmet without the anchor then sat in a damp basement for 60 years. A lot of guys just took the insignia and left the helmet.....which would make sense for a lot of marines....it's a lot easier to carry around than an entire helmet. So, the vet could have added the star around the time he got the helmet to make it look "neater" and after 60 years.......original to the helmet? no. Original to the time period? yes.

Probably impossible to say though. It does have character though.

Eric

[Bob Coleman]

I believe the most obvious answer is that some Japanese Army personel, possibly specialists, were also stationed on Tarawa. I would coubt that after 40 years, the vet would have forgotten where he obtained the helmet. I agree the paint appears to have been there many years. As a kid, I remember the comic books depicting Japanese soldiers having yellow stars on their helmets. Possibly this is some kid's handy work try to emulate what he saw in his war comic.

Bob

[Eric Doody]

William,

The sewn kanji looks like Kumoto (a Japanese surname?).

Eric

Does anyone know what these characters represent?