Henry Jetton Tudury (1885-1952), of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, served in the 12th Machinegun Battalion, 59th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division, during World War I. Throughout his service in France, Tudury served as a runner, carrying messages to and from the trenches, and participated in battles at Aisne-Marne, St. Nihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Vesle, and Toulon.

This M1917 helmet belonged to Tudury and is typical of those worn by American soldiers in World War I. During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Private Tudury received a glancing hit from an artillery shell to his head, badly denting his helmet but effectively deflecting the projectile. Possibly as a token of good luck, he continued to wear the damaged helmet throughout his time in service.

As recounted by Tudury in his diary, “We were in the Meuse-Argonne…going through tortures of hell, where the bloodiest battle of them all that I was in, men were getting torn to, pieces by, direct fire from Austrian 88ths & one pounders, I was hit on the ‘bean’ by a head of a three inch shell, I don’t think it had full speed, it bent my helmet, and dazed me for about five minutes, my head stopped the helmet from bending more, had a hickey on my head.”