File No.: Battle Relic # 31
Title: "World War Two US Helmet of an Eindhoven Irregular"
Investigation made at: The Netherlands
Period Covered: 18SEP1944 - 06NOV1945
Date:  27OCT2021
GPS Location: N/A
Case Classification: Description of a World War Two US Army M1 Steel Helmet
Case Status: Case Closed
REASON FOR INVESTIGATION:
This agency received information about the current location of an American M1 steel helmet worn by Piet "Pete "Luiten", a Dutch citizen of Eindhoven who had joined the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division on the day his hometown was liberated by that unit. Pete went on to serve as an interpreter and POW interrogator, got WIA and climbed to the rank of 1LT before being discharged at the end of WWII in the ETO. The owner, whose identity will remain undisclosed here, kindly showed this remarkable relic to this agency.

(click to enlarge)

"Pete" Luiten's American helmet with Dutch lion
SYNOPSIS:

The WW2 story of the original owner of the helmet, the late Mr. Peter H. Luiten from Eindhoven, can be read in the file author Cornelius Ryan compiled about Pete's twin brother Kees.
In the 1970's Ryan did research for his book A bridge Too Far and contacted Pete's brother who, in turn provided Ryan with a typed report of Pete's exploits as an interpreter for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR).
Click here for the file which can be found online in the collection of Ryan’s research material kept by the University of Ohio.
The report paints a picture of the adventures of Pete Luiten and renders clues about details and features of the helmet described as a Battle Relic here.
Eindhoven "Irregular"
Pete Luiten also has a role in the book "Sent by the Iron Sky" by author Ian Gardner:
"22-year-old Piet Luiten was a civilian and came from the Stratum district of Eindhoven. Pete was one of many Dutch kids who joined the Americans (and British) in Eindhoven to become what was known as "irregulars". Pete spoke several languages and initially worked with Second Battalion, 81 mm Mortar Platoon, as their interpreter. By late September, he was promoted to "lieutenant" and reassigned to the IPW team before being wounded at Opheusden. After spending several months in hospital, Pete managed to hitchhike back to the regiment and rode down to Alsace where his excellent command of German and French would come in mighty useful."

         - Page 212 of “Sent by the Iron Sky”, “The legacy of an American Parachute Battalion in WWII”
            by Ian Gardner, Osprey Publishing 2019, ISBN 978 1 472837387

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Piet "Pete" Luiten; right, back row
Camp Mourmelon, France 1945
Photo by John Phillips; courtesy of Ian Gardner

Investigative leads
Important dates and events from the Luiten file in the Cornelius Ryan collection are:
- Several days after the Germans cut the road to Arnhem at Koevering in the sector of the American 101st Airborne Division on 24SEP1944 Pete "looked more like a real G.I. with my beaten up helmet" (page 2);
- On approximately 08OCT1944 was WIA in his hand and after release from the hospital he had with him his "helmet with shrapnel hole" (page 3);
These entries suggest that Pete had a different helmet prior to the one owned by our contact.
- On 03JAN1945 Pete was officially detached from the Netherlands Military to the 101st Airborne Division's 506th PIR as part of the Allied 21st Army Group.
- That month COL Sink, CO of the 506th PIR, recommended that Pete would be commissioned as a 2LT by the Netherlands military but Pete did not have the required proof because he lost his wallet earlier;
- Pete arrived in Mourmelon, France in late FEB1945 where he worked on a Courts Martial investigation into a blown and looted safe in Holland by members of the 501st PIR.
This may well be one of the safes described by this agency in Case File # 13;
- Pete arrived in Auxerre, France on 10AUG1945 to rejoin the 101st Airborne Division where, on the next day, started acting as interpreter in a Provost Marshal investigation;
- In OCT1945 Pete made a parachute jump and unofficially received his jump wings;
For such a jump Pete needed a parachutist’s helmet featuring a liner with "A" yokes and chin strap.
- Pete was with the 506th PIR when it reached Berchtesgaden in Germany and Hitler's Berghof and Eagle's Nest near the end of the war;
- Pete is discharged from the Netherlands military on 06NOV1945 and signed his report as "sgt. Peter H. Luiten" on 17APR1946.
Description of "Pete" Luiten's Helmet
American M1 helmets typically are a combination of two "one-size-fits-all" helmets: an outer metal shell and a hard hat–type liner nestled inside it with an adjustable suspension system. The outer shell should not be worn by itself but the liner can be as it provides protection similar to a hard hat. The liner is sometimes worn in U.S. military ceremonies and parades, painted white, chromed or, as with this particular liner, given a shiny finish.
The depth of the helmet is 7 inches (180 millimeter), the width is 9.5 inches (240 millimeter), and length is 11 inches (280 millimeter), the thickness is 1/8 inch (3 millimeter).
The weight of a World War II–era M1 helmet is approximately 2.85 pounds (1.29 kilograms), including the liner and chinstrap.

Steel outer shell
Pete Luiten's helmet has the number "795D" stamped on the inside indicating that it was made by the McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company of Detroit, Michigan in the first Quarter of the year 1944.
On the front of the helmet an orange rampart (standing) lion, the heraldry symbol of the Dutch armed forces, is painted. Both sides feature a painted white spade symbol with a 'tic' mark on the twelve o'clock position signifying Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. On the rear of the steel shell we found a vertical white Non-Commissioned Officers or "follow me-" bar which is consistent with Pete's rank of SGT. Closer inspection revealed that it is made of the residue of, presumably, white adhesive engineer or medical tape.
Above the NCO bar, slightly on the right of the center, is a small indentation most likely caused by a forceful impact on the helmet.

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SGT Pete Luiten's M1 Steel helmet
Liner
Pete's liner is made by the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company designed for use by paratroopers and has a different construction than regular liners. The piece of webbing which holds the nape strap at the back of the wearer's neck is extended around the sides of the liner and terminated on each side in "A" shaped yokes which hang down below the liner's rim and has buckles for an adjustable chin cup. In Pete's liner the parachutist's chin strap is made of fabric. Two female snaps on the inside of the liner above the "A" yokes accept male snaps on each of the steel shell's chinstraps, and help to keep the liner inside the steel shell during abrupt or violent movements.
 

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SGT Pete Luiten's helmet liner with Westinghouse logo stamped inside

The liner is coated with a shiny olive green substance presumably for parade use. Before the finish dried someone must have handled the liner because it shows distinct fingerprints; perhaps Pete's.
Only the sides of the liner are marked with the white spade symbols and tics that are also on the steel shell; although smaller in size.

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Fingerprints in the green finish
Liner seen from all sides
Parades
On page 11 of his report in the Cornelius Ryan Collection Pete describes the Independence Day festivities of the 506th PIR in JUL1945 which included a parade. This may have been the occasion when Pete wore his helmet liner with the shiny finish.

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Parade photo from the "Currahee Scrapbook" of the 506th PIR

Photographic evidence of similar parades by the 101st Airborne Division held in Camp Mourmelon, France shows troopers wearing their steel outer helmets with their liners invisible.

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General Dwight D. Eisenhower inspects paratroopers
of the 101st Airborne Division in Mourmelon, France
during the award ceremony for the Presidential Unit Citation in 1945
During a parade in Reims on 07MAY1945 troopers of the 101st wore their garrison caps.
Another possible parade in which Pete could have worn his shiny liner could be the one held in Auxerre, France. Photos of that parade show Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division parading while wearing shiny helmet liners.

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Parade of the 101st Airborne Division in Auxerre, France
Pete's "Dog Tag"

The helmet was acquired together with one US Army identification disc, also known as "dog tag".
It has the following inscription:

L

U

I

T

E

N

,

P

E

T

E

R

 

H

 

 

 

 

1

0

2

8

8

2

 

N

E

T

H

.

F

O

R

C

E

S

A

T

T

A

C

H

E

D

 

U

S

 

A

R

M

Y

 

A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C

 

 
The letter "A" at the end of the 3rd line indicates Pete's blood type.
Although discovered in 1937, Rhesus factors weren't listed on WW2 dog tags.
The letter "C" in the last line signifies Pete's Catholic religion.
From the report typed by Pete Luiten himself we theorize that this dog tag was embossed for Pete after he was officially attached to the 21st Army Group on 03JAN1945.

Exhibits:
We are very thankful to the current owner of Pete Luiten's helmet and dog tag and consider it a privilege to describe and display it here a Battle Relic #31.
We close with two photos from the front of SGT Peter H. Luiten's helmet and his dog tag.

(click to enlarge)

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