WWII U.S. PARATROOPER/TANK HELMET
General George S. Patton / John T. Riddell
Excerpts from the article cited below.
Excerpts from the article cited below.
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NFL FOOTBALL TRIVIA
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2003 celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the Riddell Company, a brand whose high-quality helmets are nearly synonymous with the National Football League. While Riddell's partnership with the NFL is well known, the Company has a little-known history and partnership with another professional organization... the U.S. military. In fact, as important as Riddell has been to the NFL, that importance pales in comparison to the life-saving expertise provided the military by John T. Riddell.
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John Riddell's contribution and design expertise solved one of the major problems of the M1 combat helmet program. Post-WWI studies showed that many soldiers did not wear their helmets, because they were uncomfortable and ill fitting. Riddell's liner suspension was functional and stable. It provided the platform for arguably one of the best combat helmet designs of the 20th century. A now-declassified report called "Project ALCLAD" published by the Army in 1950, reviewed the effectiveness of the M1 helmet in combat during WWII. The report estimated that the M1 helmet alone decreased total battle casualties by eight percent. In terms of absolute numbers, the M1 helmet, supported by Riddell's suspension saved an estimated 76,000 men, half of whom would have been killed had they not been wearing the M1 helmet.
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Reliability and practicality of the design are evident when one considers that the M1 helmet suspension designed by Riddell was adopted in 1941; and essentially, that same design can be found in the PASGT or "Kevlar" helmet system worn by America's modern combat soldiers. With 38,000 "saves" in WWII, one could wonder how many more lives were saved in Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, and now, Iraq, due to the effectiveness of the design.
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Please see FSQ's source for this FSQ post for the full article.
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