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Date	Original Topic
26th November 2001	Uniform of the 24th Foot By Dan Rudary In the movie "Zulu", the soldiers of the 24th foot wore plates on thier white helmets. However, I have seen many paintings of soldiers of the 24th with no plates on the helmets. Was this just for full dress, or where helmet plates worn in the field?
Date	Replies
29th November 2001	Martin Everett Dear Dan, The movie was not correct. Shako plates were not worn and the white helmets were stained with tea. We believe this action was taken after experiences duirng the earlier Frontier Wars.
30th November 2001	Gary Laliberty In practice, the combination of the white helmet and the brass plate proved the most conspicuous part of the soldier's uniform, an obvious and tempting target, and all ranks used to remove the plate and dull down the helmet with improvised dyes, ranging from tea,coffee,and boiled bark to cow-dung. But again there was considerable variation between regiments regarding the wearing of the helmet plates. In some regiments it was the "fashion" for Officers alone to retain them. Hope this helps Dan.