Naval gun crew

[cash_tx]

Sometimes FB surfaces a genuinely interesting photo:

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Whose head was that helmet made for?
I wonder what that boy was doing two years before this picture. That war involved everyone.

 

[cash_tx]

Whose head was that helmet made for?
I wonder what that boy was doing two years before this picture. That war involved everyone.

Indeed. Both of my grandfathers served in the European theater. I've also talked with at least two guys who snuck in at 15 or 16 years old just to get away from the farm and be able to eat regularly. Hard times all around back then...

 

[BRICKBURN]

Whose head was that helmet made for?
.....

Darth Vader

 

[Jay Kelley]

Whose head was that helmet made for?
I wonder what that boy was doing two years before this picture. That war involved everyone.

The helmet was made to fit over a sound-powered phone headset. Most topside guys just wore steel pots even into the 90s. Fire parties wore steel pots painted red with a battery operated miner's light attached until the Navy finally startrd buying fire gear in the early 90s. I signed up in 1981 at the mature age of 17. Got out in '91

 

[WebleyGreene455]

To add to @Jay Kelley 's comment, the helmet was designed in 1942. We'd only been using our M1s a year and back then, headsets were really bulky.

Original U.S. WWII Navy USN MK2 Talker Flak Helmet with Headset and Microphone

Original Item: Only One Available. The MkII "Talker" helmet was developed in 1942 for naval personnel, allowing communications headgear to be easily worn under the helmet. It was a very large and somewhat ungainly helmet to wear though it did serve its purpose very well. It was designed to...

www.ima-usa.com

Those headphones stick out like everything, trying to fit them under even a cut-up M1 helmet wouldn't work, so they had to design something that would provide protection to both operator and equipment. Unfortunately it looked like that...

 

[Bert the Turtle]

My dad joined the navy at age 17 in 1944. Ended up as a radio operator on an Avenger. Flew sub patrol out of Florida and did something in Catalina Island. Refused to stand when veterans were asked to stand and be recognized at various events because he did not believe he had earned the right.

I still remember watching some war movie with the obligatory scene of the men complaining about the food in basic training. He thought those screens were ridiculous; there was nothing wrong with the food and the navy was the first time he’d gotten 3 meals all in the same day. The world was a harder place back then.

Made the most of the GI bill, went to law school, eventually ended up as a judge. Gave his family a good life.