British WWII Royal Navy D-Day Officer's Foreign Service Helmet

A nice condition all-white Foreign Service helmet; owned by Lieutenant Commander E.S.D. Freemantle, Distinguished Service Cross, who served as the Senior Beach Master at Juno Beach on D-Day. This is a fine example of a 1930s-period Royal Navy officer’s sun helmet; featuring a large folded pagri and navy blue top line indicating Royal Naval use.

The helmet is blancoed white to the exterior; the interior retains its original green cloth lining to the peak and a brown leather sweatband. Housed in its original storage tin; the front painted with the name ‘E.S.D. Freemantle RM’.

Lieutenant Commander Edmund Seymoure Denis Freemantle came from a distinguished Royal Navy lineage; both his father and grandfather were Admirals. His service at Juno Beach is documented by the Juno Beach Centre, which details that on the morning of D-Day, 6th June, at 9 a.m., he landed at Bernières-sur-Mer alongside members of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, including their commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Godfrey Spragge. Freemantle and his men immediately began organising the beachhead under hazardous conditions; enduring threats from mines, aerial bombing, and artillery fire.

By the end of the landings, Freemantle had been appointed Chief Principal Beach Master for Juno Beach; receiving the Distinguished Service Cross for his vital role during the Normandy campaign.

Ref; 92015