Take a look at Mark Bando's Trigger Time web site first. I always encourage doing some research first. There is an excellent sample on page 2 of the gear section that shows several original helmets. We shoot for the earlier (Normandy) style as a standard, so in looking at samples realize that later war (Market Garden jumps) showed helmets with somewhat smaller diamonds. This is consistent throughout the 101st. The 501st diamonds were basically squares turned on their sides and are about 2-1/2 " tall. Lay out three or so rows of the masking tape with the edges overlapping about 1/2" on a hard surface (I use a piece of glass, wood will do). Be sure and make it with space around the diamond maybe 7" x 7". Take a Sharpie and a ruler and draw out your diamond in the middle, and use a center line. Make the about 2-1/2" tall. Set your tick mark at 9 o'clock. Make it 1/2" square. It should center to the left tip of your diamond. Cut the stencil along your Sharpie lines with an xacto hobby knife. Remove the inner square and the tick mark. Slowly peel your outer stencil away. With the helmet resting atop a spray can or other prop, lay the back edge lower than the front as though it were being worn. Center your stencil points directly above the center point of your chin strap bale. The lower tip should be about 3/4" above the helmet brim. Stick down the stencil making sure that the top point of the diamond is centered above the lower tip. Just press it down in the areas immediately around the holes in the stencil. Take newspaper and tear a sheet in a few smaller pieces and use these to mask the remaining edges of the helmet using the tape from your stencil. I use Tamiya TS-3 Olive Drab for my helmets. I like to use Model Master camo grey spray paint for the diamonds. It's not pure white and doesn't look so stark. Shake the can, spray it from about 10" away from the helmet and just mist it. Keep the can moving. You don't want a hard perfect finish, you really want something a bit less stark. A few passes should be enough. Let dry about 5 minutes and peel away your stencil and paper mask slowly. I use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process and then move to the other side. After it all dries over night, I like to like buff the new stencil VERY LIGHTLY with a small ScotchBrite pad just to pick up the cork texture underneath and give it a field look. Don't rub from the stencil onto the Olive Drab though because it will ghost the Olive Drab. Just lightly rub the stencilled area.

The link below shows the ones Jerry Lee sells at What Price Glory (where I got mine) for $48 (knife only or $85 with scabbard) and the repro M6 scabbard as well. Handle shows up pretty well on this. Blade is parkerized (black oxide finish) with NO serations. http://www.whatpriceglory.com/pic/M6Sheath.jpg

Obviously you see that the originals actually tack in behind the inner suspension band. I drilled mine out and attached them as originally done but to do so I had to buy a $30 rivet punch. The rivets were $6. Your other alternative is just to drill 4 additional holes and use traditional pop rivets to attach them.

Uniform ties in WW2 were very short by todays standards. Normally the tie tip was level with the bottom of the shirt pockets and several inches short of the man's waistline. If you look at pictures on WW2 Marines (who didn't tuck in their ties or "field scarves"), you can see what I mean. It's really hard to tell from pictures of soldiers from WW2 because they would tuck their tie inside their shirt between the second and third button when the service coat is not being worn.

When the GIs returned home most of them found that their old civilian clothes didn't fit, so they used their khakis and even sometimes their class As. Upon return to their home towns they were given preference in hiring... an advantage that a lot of "4-F"er's didn't have...so some of them were purchasing khakis and wearing them so as to get jobs. The answer came in the form of these patches to set apart those that served (honorably) and those that didn't.The "Ruptured Duck" is a patch that all servicemen were made to sew on their uniforms when they were seperated from service. As most of them wore their uniforms home, this let military authorities know that the man in the uniform was no longer in the military and therefore a civilian. The patch was sewn on while the serviceman was going through out processing.

The most common issue handguns in the US military in WW2 besides the M-1911 were the S&W Victory, the M-1917s (both Colt and S&W), the Colt model 1903 .32ACP (issued to General Officers), and a few Colt .38 Detective Specials issued to cloak and dagger types. Very early in the war, many different civilian weapons were bought by Uncle Sam straight off the shelves; this included handguns. Most of these civilian weapons were declared "Limited Standard" and were used to equip guards at installations stateside (both military and civilian) and even to equip State Guard units after the National Guard was activated. There were many privately acquired handguns carried by US troops in WW2. Any pre-1941 civilian handgun could be considered as an unauthorized weapon. Also, since the 501st was stationed in England before Normandy, it is conceivable that an enterprising trooper may have traded for an Webley or Enfield revolver or maybe even a Browning Hi-Power (Inglis made). Remember that few Paratroops (except for officers and crew-served weapons men) were issued sidearms. Most were obtained by midnight requesitioning or by private purchase.

The first M-1C's were fixed bale and were used along side of the M-2's in Normandy. The M-2 used the fixed "D" bale. The problem with the fixed bale helmets (both M-1C and M-2) is that the bales broke off easily. By the time of Market Garden almost all jump helmets were M-1C's. Also many "Leg helmets were used both with and without airborne liners.

Their were basically 3 OD colors used on US vehicles during WWII. Realize when I say three colors I am referring to three Federal Matching System colors (there were surely variances in the shades and mixes dictated by the amount of thinning and flattener used). They are: FS 34087 Olive Drab - Commonly referred to as "lusterless OD, early khaki" (ultra-flat - no sheen) FS 33070 Olive Drab - Mid-War green (more green, less khaki, and not totally flat in finish) FS 319 Late war OD (is a strong shade more green than the earlier) The Walmart brand seems to match the later OD the closest as it is more green. Many equipment components were painted that late war FS 319 (radio cases, ammo cans, etc.)

There are no set standards on helmet colors in WWII. Ask David Mann's Dad as he'll be the first to say they used whatever they could find - ie aircraft paint or vehicle paint. And depending on whether they thinned it with gasoline or turpentine or mineral spirits would determine the final color and finish. I think it's safe to say for 501st purposes of establishing a standard that the helmet liner is the same matte OD as you use on the shell.

Camouflage or white chutes for WWII. Many historians say that OD chutes weren't around till the mid 1950's (also when they went to black jump boots). For Overlord, about half of the chutes were white and half were camo. They wanted all camo chutes for the drop but couldn't get production to meet demand.