...that the first serviceman to discard both pith helmet and spine pad under the tropical sun was no less than Lawrence, T.E. (although not in his Arabian days as you might have expected) It was in 1928 when he was serving as a semi-anonymous aircraftman on the NorthWest Frontier that he decided to dispense with this cumbersome headgear. He seemed to have suffered no ill effects and was quickly copied by many another serviceman.