helmet
Report a Mistake- Object Number 20110005-002
- Event 1939-1945 Second World War
- Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer Canadian Motor Lamp Company Limited
- Date Made 1942
- Place of Use Continent - North America, Country - Canada
- Category Tools and equipment for science and technology
- Sub-category Armament, body armour
- Department Dress and Insignia
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1942/01/01
- Latest 1942/12/31
- Brand Name / Model Mk II
- Inscription (external/extérieur): RCN; (internal/intérieur): 7 1/3 V.M.C. II 1942; C.L./C. 1942 75
- Materials Steel, Cotton, Rubber
- Service Component Royal Canadian NavyRoyal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
- Measurements Height 14.0 cm, Length 30.6 cm, Width 28.7 cm
- Caption Jack Nichols (1921 - 2009)
- Additional Information Born in 1921 in Montreal, Jack Nichols was largely self-taught as an artist. In the fall of 1942 he served as a deckhand on a Great Lakes freighter. His combination of skills led to a 1943 commission from the National Gallery of Canada to depict the activities of the Canadian Merchant Navy. In February 1944 he was enrolled as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, and was appointed an official Canadian war artist in April 1944 with the rank of lieutenant. Nichols was present at the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944, later sketched on a number of warships, and was on board HMCS Iroquois during the attempted evacuation of Brest by the Germans in August 1944. (Men on H.M.C.S. Iroquois at Action Stations) Nichols was released from the navy in October 1946. Nichols's drawings form the bulk of his official war art. Only eight compositions were worked up in oil and they are unique within the Canadian War Records Collection because of their emphasis on the human experience in war time.