M-1 Garand

[Bucksnort1]

Recently, a past memory came to me.

While working the booth for the Colorado State Shooting Association at a gun show, a number of years ago, a gentleman came to the booth to look at the M-1 we were auctioning. He pulled out a small magnifying glass which he used to look at the serial number on the back of the receiver. I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I'm looking for the M-1 issued to me in Korea".

 

[bamaranger]

ISSUE

Read an article some time back, likely in the Rifleman, where somebody had located their Dad's M-1; and gave it to his father as a gift. Dim memory, pretty sure I read same, somewhere.

 

[Bucksnort1]

Bamaranger,

I'm certain the man said he was looking for his M-1 but now that you tell this story, he could have been looking for his father's M-1.

 

[RickB]

M1s were still being used into the '60s in reserve units, and later than that in the Coast Guard.
Even so, those latter guys are now in their 70s.

 

[Bucksnort1]

I do recall the man saying, "...issued to me" which would indicate something other than traditional guard/reserve training.

 

[Bucksnort1]

Bamaranger and others,

I watched the NRA's, "Gun Stories" today. This episode is about the new Army Museum near Washington, D.C. Most of this show is about an M-1 used by a paratrooper with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The 508th jumped into Normandy on D-Day. The paratrooper was, Private Martin Teahan. Teahan etched his name in his rifle's stock near the butt plate.

Shortly after landing, he was wounded in the leg then captured by the Germans. He used his M-1 as a crutch. On one sad occasion, a German soldier thought Teahan was grabbing his rifle to shoot someone so the German shot and killed him.

Sometime after D-Day, a French farmer found the rifle submerged in water. He kept it for 70 years then in 2016 offered it for sale on a military memorabilia site. A French Colonel obtained the rifle and noticed Teahan's name. The Colonel did some research and learned who Teahan was then eventually found Teahan's nephew. The rifle was returned to the nephew and is now on display in the Army Museum.

This may be the NRA story of which you wrote.

 

[Dfariswheel]

There was a story about when M1 Rifles were imported from Korea.
A vet looked at one in an Arizona gun store and it was the one he'd been issued in the Army.

Apparently he had some service documents listing the number of the rifle he had and it checked out.

 

[Bucksnort1]

Dfariswheel,

Maybe that's the story.

 

[dahermit]

M1s were still being used into the '60s in reserve units, and later than that in the Coast Guard.
Even so, those latter guys are now in their 70s.

In August of 1962 I was issued M1 Garand serial number 1603418 in Basic training at Fort Knox Kentucky. Our training company A-11-3 were issued M1s as were the majority of the other training companies we saw marching by. However, there were a few companies that were carrying those new-fangled M14s. When I see an M1, I always look at the serial number. I am now 78 years old.

 

[Bucksnort1]

dahermit,

Great story. Tugs at my heart strings. Congratulations on your age (not being a smart ass here). I too am 78. You must have joined/drafted when you were barely 18. Without looking it up in your records and without divulging it on this site, do you remember your service number? Those were the days when we had numbers that were not your social security number. I can rattle mine off in a flash.

I was in the Army with the M-14. In basic training, we were not issued M-14s but rather, when we went to the range, we checked out a rifle. During mortar training, we did not handle any rifles, only the 1911A1. I qualified expert with the M-14, the 1911A1 and the 81mm mortar. It was years later when I joined the Colorado National Guard that I handled the M-16.

 

[RickB]

In August of 1962 I was issued M1 Garand serial number 1603418 in Basic training at Fort Knox Kentucky. Our training company A-11-3 were issued M1s as were the majority of the other training companies we saw marching by. However, there were a few companies that were carrying those new-fangled M14s. When I see an M1, I always look at the serial number. I am now 78 years old.

My dad commanded a Reserve amphibious engineers battalion, and I have an album full of 8x10s of them "storming the beaches" at Pt. Defiance Park, in Tacoma, WA in 1964. Garands are much in evidence.