Another interesting photo

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BlueTrain

New member
There was an interesting photo that sort of featured handguns in today's Washington Post. It was on the obituary page, which I usually read first. The photo accompanied the obituary of George Kerchner, 93, who was in the ranger company that scaled the cliffs during the Normany invasion. The photo was of him being congratulated upon being decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross.

What made the 6x9 photo interesting were the weapons you could see. The colonel shaking hands with him is wearing a revolver in a regular draw (not reverse draw) holster. The revolver is uncertain but it's probably a .45. Kerchner has a regular issue for a .45 auto but the flap has been trimmed so that all remains is basically a strap about 1 1/2 inches wide. He's also wearing it on his left hand side, the first I've ever seen in a photo in US service. He also is carrying a Thompson over his shoulder.

As you may know, the assult up the cliffs to knock out German guns in bunkers was featured in the movie "The Longest Day." One of the original rangers who participated in the actual assault on June 6, 1944, was in the motion picture re-enacting his original role.
 
Wow!

Well, hats off to Mr. Kirchner, may he RIP. Talk about being on the tip of the spear! I'm sure that that DSC was well-earned.
 
The guy in the picture with Kerchner?

James Earl Rudder, a man possessed of enormous cojones himself.

He was commander of the 2nd Ranger Battalion on D-Day. During the fighting he was wounded twice and ended the war as one of the most-decorated soldiers of the conflict.

The handgun he's carrying could be either a Smith or a Colt, it could be a Model of 1917, or it could be a .38 Special.

Hard to tell.
 
Found the picture.

kerchner1obitpopup.jpg
 
"Is that the same Rudder who has a freeway and a building named after him at College Station?"

I would say yes. Rudder was president of Texas A&M and a Texas Land Commissioner.

The relative size of the grip, and the shape, of Rudder's revolver makes me think it's a Smith & Wesson Model of 1917.

It also looks like he's got a Fairbain-Sykes fighting knife. Wikipedia says that the Rangers did carry the Fairbain-Sykes. It could also be a US M3... Tough to tell from that photo.

As far as the holster that Rudder has, that appears to be a standard Model of 1917 hip hoslter for the revolver, while Kerchner's is a field-modified 1911 holster.
 
Thanks for posting the photo. Concerning the holster for the revolver, which has a very curious tilt to it, I think the older M1917 holster was a reverse draw, the later one had a normal draw like this. I'd say it was a .45 in the holster judging from the barrel length. It also looks like there are two studs for the flap fastening, one for a Colt and a different one for the S&W. The very old holsters when the army was still using single actions came with two studs to accomodate either a Colt or S&W but this is the first I've seen like this in "modern times." I have a photo of my father wearing a revolver holster while he was in the service but it was the reverse draw style.

Good photo.
 
The Museum of the American G.I. that is on Earl Rudder hwy (hwy 6) in College Station is having a open house and reinactment this Fri. and Sat. if anyone is in this area. they have quite a few WW2 tanks and vehicles. You can check them out on their web site with the same name.( just a note )
Awesome picture!!
 
The right-hand, butt forward full-flap holsters was a cavalry adaptation. Right handed man could access his revolver via left hand, cross-draw while still holding his saber in his right hand.
 
I don't think the M1917 hoslter had dual studs, did they?

The 1917s were an adaptation of the M1909 cavalry holster, which was a cross draw, but the M1917 holster was a right-hand draw, not a cross draw.

The M1917/42 also, as far as I know, didn't have a dual stud.

In fact, I don't think the M1909 had a dual stud, either. It was developed specifically for the M1909 Colt revolver, essentially the same thing as the M1917 Colt.
 
There might not even be two studs there but it does sort of look like it. I didn't know of any holsters post-1900 that were supposed to have them. The reproductions don't have them either. Sort of a case of photographic evidence being singularly unhelpful.
 
I'm trying to remember if Kerchner was on any of the History Channel programs about this.

I know Leonard Lomell was... And hell, Lomell died a little over a year ago.

Interesting. Both Kerchner and Lomell were in Company D. They doubtless knew each other well.
 
Joseph Lowe was the man with the 2nd Ranger Battalion who also appeared in "The Longest Day." The man commanding the British glider unit (2nd/Ox&Bucks) had also taken part in the original invasion as an officer in that unit which was air landed. I believe there had also been men who had been involved in the actual incident on which the movie "Blackhawk Down" was based and were also in the movie.
 
From George Kerchner's youngest son

First of all, thanks for the interest in and kind words about my dad, the young Lt being awarded the DSC from Col Rudder.

Yes, Len Lomell was a Sgt in D Co, they certainly knew each other.

I can also add that my dad hated the Thompson and went up the cliffs with "something he could aim with."

As for the crossed holster, I guess that will just get added to the pile of things that I wished I would have asked him about. BTW, although Col Rudder was a great leader and great man, he was a bit self conscious about his height. Look carefully and you'll see that Col Rudder stands on a low wall to bring him up to my dad's height.

Ft Lewis sent 3 present day 2nd Btn, D Co Rangers out for my dad's ceremony, they said that the pic hangs over their Commanding Officer's desk.
 
Greg thank you for sharing the information, and photo with us. My prayers are with you and your family. It is sad that the men of his generation are becoming fewer. They do not call them the Greatest Generation for nothing.

Not to thread jack. My grampa was on Omaha and the only time I ever saw the man cry was when we visited the beach when I was young. He told me his account of the story. I can say those men that were on that beach served thier time in Hadees. I traveled with him as he retraced his steps. We started in Spain, and traveled to every stop all the way to Austria. Due to expenses, and his health we skipped on north Africa.
 
Thanks for making a post here, Mr. GregoryPaul. I'm amazed you found this thread.

My own father went in over the beaches in Italy. After a couple of months on the front line, he was captured and spent the rest of the war (in Europe, anyway) in a prison camp in Moosberg, north of Munich. Like most of the other veterans of wars, he didn't talk all that much about his experiences and it never occurred to me to ask him much about it. But every now and then something would prompt him to mention something, some of which were very odd.

As a P.O.W., he was given work to do and he was sent out to a farm as a laborer. His "hosts" on the farm also had a son in the (German) army who he met. That man went off to the Russian front. He was treated well and said he was lying on the sofa at that German farm when he heard the war had ended. The funny thing is that a few years ago, after my father passed away, there was a newpaper article published about the Germans who were held in prison camps in the country. They too were given farm work to do and their stories sounded exactly the same as my father's.

No doubt the biggest reason he didn't talk about the war was because he was too busy living his life at the moment with his family. He never joined any veteran's organization and didn't become a "professional veteran."

He was older than average when he was drafted at age 28. I was 19 when I went in. He and I and also my son took our training at Ft. Knox.
 
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