Hanging out with the gals
Via the Oklahoma National Guard Museum: two members of the 45th Infantry “Thunderbird” Division show off their sweetheart-named select-fire M2 Carbines somewhere in Korea.
The Thunderbirds were one of just two National Guard divisions-– along with the California-based 40th Infantry– sent to fight in Korea. Activated in September 1950, by the end of the following year, they were deployed to Korea as a unit and spent 429 days in combat until the end of the conflict in 1953.
They saw hell at Yonchon-Chorwon, Old Baldy, Pork Chop Hill, Heartbreak Ridge, and Luke’s Castle, suffering 4,004 casualties, including 834 killed in action.