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A salute, of sorts, to iconic military headgear.

IN THE BEGINNING OF The Little Prince, A FANCIFUL children’s fable for adults, the pioneering French Aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry asks: “Why should anyone be afraid of a hat?” The hats shown in these pages–from one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s 120-odd bicorns to the camo-wrapped, name-banded Kevlar helmet worn by U.S. Army general Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. during Operation Desert Storm–may help answer the question. But the bottom line surely is this: If clothes make the man, hats–as often as not–make the soldier. 

 

 

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This article appears in the Summer 2018 issue (Vol. 30, No. 4) of MHQ—The Quarterly Journal of Military History with the headline: Hats Off!