If you were to do a Google search for
“History of the Lemon Squeezer hat,” you will find there are several different opinions as to its early origins.
Number 6 in the Google search is an article on the National Interest website by
Peter Suciu, an author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/bu...%9D-hat-173062
Suciu states that. —
“When the first New Zealand units arrived on the Gallipoli peninsula during the First World War they were easy to spot as they were the only ones wearing a unique campaign hat—known to some as the “Lemon Squeezer” due to its iconic shape.”
The first myth is that New Zealanders arrived on the Gallipoli peninsula wearing Lemon Squeezers.
New Zealanders landed on Gallipoli wearing the British style Service Dress Cap as pictured in post # 11.
The following is a ‘25th April 1915’ extract from the Diary of Spencer Westmacott, platoon commander of the 16th Waikato Company aboard the Lutzow, flagship of Major General Sir Alexander Godley. —
“All fully equipped we now went below to the troop decks and inspected our men who had fallen in and were awaiting us. All ranks were in caps like the British infantry. This applied to the Australians too, being a Corps Order. We had noted with disapproval that when 3rd Auckland went ashore a few men wore hats; but their discipline was slack.”
The second myth is that the New Zealanders were easy to spot as the only ones wearing a unique campaign hat.
The Wellington Infantry company’s were generally the only ones to wear the Lemon Squeezer shape on Gallipoli, The rest of the New Zealanders on Gallipoli continued to wear the SD caps or Mounted Rifle hats, which makes them difficult to spot when mixed with Australians in photos.
The following ‘25th April 1915’ picture shows New Zealanders being towed, as can be seen they are wearing Service dress caps.
New Zealand’s Roll of Honour 1915 page 98.jpg
New Zealand’s Roll of Honour 1915 page 98 close up.jpg