The pith helmet is also called topee, sun helmet, sola topee, salacot and topi. It’s a lightweight helmet usually created from cork or pith, or the sola (that’s the Indian swamp growth, Aeschynomene aspera or A. paludosa). Primarily, pith helmets were worn by Westerners in the tropics; but in the contemporary life they are used in Vietnam. According to the historical data, waterproof pith helmets existed in the 1840s, and in 1870 they experienced the top of their popularity, especially among the military personnel in Europe's tropical colonies.
Later on, the German Pickelhaube greatly influenced the design of the pith helmet. The major material used for the production of helmets was hard cork that was covered with cloth and often called "pith" helmets. In the 1880s it was worn by white officers commanding locally recruited soldiers in the colonial troops of Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, Italy, Imperial Germany and the Netherlands. White troops serving in the tropics also used pith helmets, which were sometimes changed into more comfortable hats, for instance, the wide brimmed slouch hats used by US troops in the Philippines and by British Empire forces.
Beside the sun helmet, another helmet made of dark blue cloth and having a bronze spike, was chosen as military wear in non-tropical areas. It had the features of the German Pickelhaube, but somewhat different, and it was first adopted by the British Army in 1878, and then by the United States Army in 1881. The British version of the helmet was worn for many occasions by artillery line infantry, and engineers until 1902 until the introduction of khaki peaked (billed) caps. The blue cloth helmets were really exquisite as contained plumes and cords in yellow or red.
The Home Service Helmet is often used by some British Army bands or Corps of Drums on ceremonial occasions even nowadays. It‘s similar to the custodian helmet that is still used by police forces in England. In the course of the Anglo-Zulu War, British troops colored their white pith helmets with tea for camouflage. Thus, khaki-coloured pith helmets became popular for service. Pith helmets were used also during World War I by British Empire, Belgian, Turkish, German, and French colonial troops fighting in the Middle East and Africa. Such helmets were also worn during World War II by European and American military personnel in hot weather.
The sun helmets were popular in North Africa and worn by South African Army, Italian troops, and Air Force units and Germany's Afrika Korps. As a matter of fact, the whole military of the America's colony the Philippines that had an army and a gendarmerie, wore sun helmets. As for the U.S. Marine Corps they wore pith helmets named "elephant hats" in the South Pacific. The recruits in United States Marine Corps Boot Camp were not the exceptions and also used these helmets. The Axis Second Philippine Republic's military called the Bureau of Constabulary just like the guerrilla groups in the Philippines appreciated sun helmets deeply as well. And in 1948 the British Army formally abolished the tropical helmet officially making the pith helmet a common civilian headgear for Westerners.
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