laststandonzombieisland

Some 75 years ago this week.

Somewhere along the central front in Korea.

Official caption: “Pfc. V.L. Creswell, Newport, Ark., 25th Inf. Div., an ammo bearer on a quad fifty machine gun, rests while he waits to reload the blazing gun.”

Creswell, shown with a 110-round belt of linked .50 cal draped over his flak vest, worked a motorized Maxson M45 Quad turret, thus:

Known as “The Meat Chopper” from its use against infantry, the M45 was designed as an anti-aircraft gun. The electrically powered mount moved at about 60 degrees per second and could elevate to near-vertical and depress slightly less than the horizon for use against ground targets in enfilade. Two 6-volt batteries that were recharged by a small Briggs & Stratton gas engine, coupled to a generator, fed the electric motor on the mount.

To this mount, the design added a central gunner’s seat of luxurious canvas, a large spiderweb-type graduated sight, and four Browning heavy machine guns arranged in a pair on each side, which provided .50 cal suppression in surround sound.

Fully equipped with 800 rounds of ammunition, an armor shield for the gunner, oil, fuel for the engine, and all accessories, the mount topped 2,400 pounds. This size fit in the rear of a large truck, half-track, or could be towed alone on a small M20-style trailer, and their firepower made them very popular with the Joes in the field.

As for Creswell, born one of 10 children in Independence, Arkansas, he was just over 20 in the top photo, his older brothers Bundt and Wimps serving in WWII. He made it out of Korea and returned home to marry Ms. Juanita M Higginbotham on 24 May 1952 before going on to work at National Standard for 26 years. Active in the VFW (Post 360), V.L. “John” Creswell passed in 1996 at the age of 65, leaving behind two daughters and five grandkids. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, South Bend, St. Joseph, Indiana.