Men of the 304th Army Cavalry Group perform night firing exercises with the 3.5-inch M20 “Super Bazooka,” 31 July 1952. A Boston-based Reserve unit, the image was likely taken at Pine Camp (Fort Drum) during summer training before the unit became the short-lived 57th Tank Battalion.
Signal Corps photo SC 405194-S
Designed after learning from the captured German 8.8 cm RPzB 43 and RPzB 54 Panzerschrecks during WWII, the Super Bazooka was slow walked into service but rushed to Korea in July 1950 when the smaller M9 2.36-inch ‘zook proved ineffective against North Korean T-34s.
By August 1950, some 900 Super Bazookas were holding the line during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and ROK forces used them to knock out enemy tanks the same month.
The Superbazooka even appeared in Army recruiting posters during the Korean War
“Two North Koreans captured by men of F Co., 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, south of Chinju, Korea, are being searched and interrogated by a South Korean G-2 officer. 29 July 1950.”
Note the M1 Carbine-armed ROK officer’s rather unorthodox uniform capped by what could be a second-hand Australian bush (slouch) hat. Also, the Joe to the left has a muzzle cover on his carbine while the Soldier to the right is missing his canteen, which may have been loaned to the new EPOWs. Photographer: Butler. Signal Corps Archive SC 348779
After the armistice was signed in 1953, UN Command repatriated 70,183 North Korean prisoners of war as part of Operation Big Switch, which also included the return of 12,773 UN POWs to their respective countries; the latter figure contained just 7,862 South Korean POWs.
Another 22,959 Chinese/North Korean POWs elected to be sent anywhere else than home (mainly Chinese to Taiwan), with an Indian custodial force set to guard those defectors until they could be transferred abroad into 1954.
Some 7,614 Chinese and North Korean POWs died in UN custody during the war, mostly from tuberculosis and dysentery/diarrhea.
The ledger that recounts the number of Allied POWs that died in Chinese/Nork camps during the war has been forever lost to history.
According to the House Subcommittee on Investigations at the time, in July 1981, there were 412,339 .45 caliber pistols and 127,745 .38 caliber revolvers in the inventories of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
The last procurement of the .45 caliber pistol occurred in 1945. Since that time, the existing inventory has been maintained by rebuilding and reconditioning the worn weapons. Department of Defense witnesses testified that $1.5 million is currently budgeted for the procurement of replacement components for those handguns. They also testified that “field reports indicate that it is reaching the end of its maintainable life.”
The NYT, the previous month, gave the figure as a slightly different 418,000 .45s and 136,000 .38s, which may include guns in USCG inventory not otherwise captured by Navy figures.
As you can see in the article, even then, the Army speculated on selling the surplus guns to the public via the CMP (at the time run by the Army directly under DCM).
Of course, it would take four years before Beretta 92F became the M9 and 37 years before CMP sold the first batch of surplus 1911s to the public in 2018, but I digress.
Nothing is classified in it, and a lot of its 102 pages are “intentionally left blank” or are taken up by notes and indexes, but it is a great primer for anyone interested in how its units are organized. It also has several short backgrounders on past operations.
The campaign to liberate the Philippines in 1944-45 was divided between the U.S. Eighth Army and U.S. Sixth Army, with support from 250,000 Philippine insurgents.
Seventeen Alamo Scout teams conducted more than 70 missions in support of the two Armies– after cutting their teeth in 40 similar recon missions in New Guinea. However, it was in the Philippines that the Scouts added liaison with the guerrilla units to their reconnaissance mission.
You call these men: Alamo Scouts
The Alamo Scouts? These special recon and direct action teams, credited as one of the forerunners of today’s Green Berets, were a product of the Sixth Army’s in-house Alamo Scout Training Center. Dubbed the Hotel Alamo, the ASTC was originally on Fergusson Island, New Guinea, and then relocated to Subic Bay in 1945. Using unorthodox tactics and inserted via rubber rafts from PBYs, among other means.
The Alamo Scouts were unsung even in their day.
U.S. Army Alamo Scouts, two in HBT uniforms. William E. Nellist (middle) pictured with unidentified trainees from the 4th Class. Cape Kassoe, Hollandia, DNG. August 1944. Via Alamo Scouts website. http://www.alamoscouts.com/photo_archives/420_439.htm
A team of Alamo Scouts pose for a photo after completing a reconnaissance mission on Los Negros Island, February 1944.
Alamo Scout training was arduous and intensive, concentrating on reconnaissance techniques and honing the men’s ability to move through the jungle. Here, trainees at the ASTC at Kalo Kalo conduct a forced march on Fergusson Island, New Guinea, February 1944.
Alamo Scout trainees had to swim an underwater course under fire. Her,e 1LT Preston Richard fires at the surface with a Thompson sub-machinegun. LTC Frederick Bradshaw, ASTC Director (hands on hips), and MG Innis P. Swift, commander of I Corps (in helmet) observe the training, ASTC Fergusson Island, January 1944.
A Scout team at the 1st ASTC prepares to conduct a night reconnaissance. Front L-R, PFC Joseph Johnson, 1LT Michael Sombar, and CPL David Milda. Back L-R, SGT Byron Tsingine, SSG Alvin Vilcan, CPL John A. Roberts, CPL Walter A. MacDonal, and SSG Caesar Ramirez, 8 January 1944.
As detailed by Michael Krivdo in his article on the Rescue at Cabanatuan, in which the Scouts played a key role.
Several members of the Alamo Scouts found their way into the ranks of Army Special Forces later in their careers. One such member, CSM Galen Kittleson, had the distinction of being in four POW rescue missions in two separate wars. Alamo Scout training, including their use of peer evaluations during training, found their way into the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC).
80 years ago. Official wartime caption: “After a strafing mission, North American P-51 Mustangs snuggle under the wing of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress for the trip back to Iwo Jima, Bonin islands. July 1945.”
U.S. Air Force Number B67967AC. National Archives Identifier. 204834881 (B&W). Similar images in the series include 59049AC/204834866, 67967AC/204834875, and A67967AC/204834878, all of the same four-plane stack through what looks to be the same window, that of the B-29’s portside remote gunner.
The tail number of the closest fighter, 44-72864, indicates that it is a North American P-51D-25-NA and is almost surely from the 7th Fighter Command’s “Sunsetters.”
The Very Long Range escort missions flown by Iwo Jima’s P-51s– note the twin drop tanks under each of the fighters– were grueling 1,500-mile round trips escorting B-29s over Japan. They were extremely dangerous, and under arguably worse flying conditions than the 8th AF had over Germany, all things considered.
Of note:
One of the greatest limiting factors of fighter escorts from Iwo was the human factor. The B-29 was heated and pressurized. Compared to the unheated, unpressurized P-51, the bomber crews sat in secure comfort. The punishment on the fighter pilots’ bodies was compounded by the extremely high altitudes they flew to escort the bombers, usually more than 30,000 feet. This was several thousand feet higher than fighter pilots flew in Europe, escorting B-17 and B-24 bombers. The round trip from Iwo to Japan and back was nine hours, spent in a physically battered state.
While 44-72864’s service history is unknown, it probably didn’t end well.
Take a gander at the 18 closest known P-51 serials to that frame, via Baugher:
72848 (530th FS, 311th FG, 14th AF) crashed after takeoff in China while on an administration mission from Sian to Peishiyi on Sep 12, 1945. MACR 14929. Pilot killed.
72851 (457th FS, 506th FG) in a landing accident at North Field, Iwo Jima Aug 2, 1945. The pilot survived, but the aircraft was destroyed.
72860 (457th FS, 506th FG) crashed from unknown cause at North Field, Iwo Jima Aug 5, 1945. The pilot was killed and the aircraft was destroyed.
72863 (72nd FS, 21st FG) shot down by AAA N of Koriyama, Japan Aug 1, 1945. MACR 14842. The pilot bailed out but was killed.
72865 (46th FS, 21st FG) crashed on takeoff at Central Field, Iwo Jima Jul 2, 1945. The pilot survived, but the aircraft was destroyed.
72866 (78th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF) in a landing accident at South Field, Iwo Jima Jun 7, 1944. The pilot survived, the aircraft was badly damaged, and it is unknown if repaired.
72867 w/o? 16 Sep 1947. Landing accident at Johnson AB, Japan 5FG-4FS
72869 (46th FS, 21st FG) in a landing accident at Central Field, Iwo Jima Jun 26, 1945. The pilot survived, the aircraft was badly damaged, and it is unknown if repaired.
72870 w/o? 16 Sep 1946 Landing accident at Johnson AB, Japan 314CW-8PRS
72871 (46th FS, 21st FG) crashed from unknown cause 19 mi N of Iwo Jima on Jun 7, 1945. The pilot bailed out and was rescued.
72872 (45th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF) crashed 150 mi from S of Osaka, Japan due to turbulent weather on Jun 1, 1945. MACR 14641. Pilot killed.
72873 (46th FS, 21st FG) hit by AAA over Hanshin Airfield, Osaka, Japan, and crashed in Osaka Bay, Japan Aug 8, 1945. MACR 14837. Believe that he was captured and killed.
72879 (21st FG, 72nd FS) crashed into the sea during a strafing run over Arita-cho, Oki-gun, Wakayama Prefecture, Yuasa, Japan Aug 8, 1945. MACR 14841
72883 (458th FS, 506th FG) was shot down by AAA and crashed N of Mount Fujiyama, Japan Jul 8, 1945. MACR 14733. The pilot bailed out and was MIA, believed killed.
72885 (457th FS, 506th FG) crashed 360 mi from Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean due to turbulent weather on Jun 1, 1945. MACR 14634. Pilot killed.
72886 (72nd FS) 21st FG) collided in midair with P-51D 44-63969 and crashed 14 mi S of Kita Iwo Jima Jul 13, 1945. The pilot bailed out and survived, but the aircraft was destroyed.
72892 506th FG 462nd FS. Lost in a midair collision in the traffic pattern over North Field on Aug 28, 1945, with P-51D 44-72550
72893 w/o 5 Aug 1947 takeoff accident at Johnson AB, Japan 35FG-39FS
No, not the Q Lazzarus song made infamous by Ted Levine, we are talking about the Army’s latest initiative to divest itself of equines, something it has been doing in slow motion since 1917 despite a few half-hearted returns.
It could be argued that 1916 was the height of the U.S. Army’s post-Civil War (when the Union Army fielded 6 regular army and 266 volunteer cavalry regiments as well as 170 unattached squadrons) horse cavalry. At the time, during Pershing’s Punitive Expedition into Northern Mexico to chase Villa, the Army had 17 regiments of regulars– with the 16th and 17th Cavalry Regiments only organized in Texas in July 1916.
U.S. 5th Cav in Mexico, 1916
Add to this “practically all the serviceable cavalry” from the mobilized National Guard that included three cavalry regiments, 13 separate squadrons, and 22 separate cavalry troops, a force that required the immediate purchase on the open market of 1,861 cavalry horses by quartermasters to take to the field as most units were called up with less than half their stables full.
One Guard cavalry unit had no horses on call-up day except one privately owned mount, and in another that had 92 state-owned horses, only 23 passed inspection by a U.S. Cavalry remount officer.
“Making cavalry horses out of outlaws!”
While nearly 2 million Doughboys went “Over There” in the Great War, few were horse soldiers (just the 6th and 15th Cavalry Regiments arrived in France in March 1918, and were later sent to the trenches dismounted).
Instead, cavalry units were either repurposed into supply trains and artillery units or left to watch the border; the latter regiments organized into the short-lived 15th Cavalry Division.
At the same time, the Army went all-in on mechanization and established its first dedicated tank units.
The great cavalry farce of the 1920s-1930s
By the 1920s, the walk away from horses continued, and three regiments of regulars (15th, 16th, and 17th) were disbanded, as the regular cavalry increasingly became motorized (the 1st and 13th U.S. Cavalry were the first to hand in their horses, starting in 1932). In the Philippines, the 26th Cavalry regiment (Philippine Scouts), made up generally of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, with a few seconded Regular Army officers and NCOs, was established in 1922 using horses and equipment left behind when the segreated 9th Cavalry shipped back home.
The interwar role of horse cavalry was increasingly transferred to the National Guard and Army Reserve.
However, it was a force largely just on paper, allowing much smaller “regiments” than those typically seen in an infantry format to exist (1,090 officers and men vs 3,500 by 1918 TOE, numbers even smaller by later standards).
Florida National Guard summer camp officer with 1902 pattern sword fooling on horseback, Jacksonville, 1930 time frame.
This saw the creation out of whole cloth of 20 NG horse cav regiments between 1921 and 1927: the 101st and 121st Cavalry Regiments in New York, 102nd Cavalry in New Jersey, the 103rd and 104th Cavalry in Pennsylvania, 105th Cavalry (Wisconsin), 106th Cavalry (Illinois), 107th Cavalry (Ohio), 108th Cavary (Georgia), 109th Cavalry (Tennessee), the 110th Cavalry in Massachusetts, the 112th and 124th Cavalry Regiments in Texas, 113th Cavalry (Iowa), 114th Cavalry (Kansas), 115th Cavalry (Wyoming), 116th Cavalry (Idaho), 117th (Colorado/New Mexico, never fully formed), 122nd (Connecticut and Rhode Island), and 123rd (Kentucky).
In 1927, each cavalry regiment at the time, when fully staffed and ready for service, included four lettered 123-man troops led by captains, organized into two numbered 248-man squadrons led by a major, plus a regimental headquarters, machinegun, medical, and service troops for 39 officers and 710 men including ferriers and veteranirians. Add to this 810 horses, 64 mules, three cars, three 1 1/2 ton trucks, a motorcycle (with side car), 38 assorted wagons, 10 M1917 water cooled MGs, 24 M1918 machine rifles (BARs), 501 M1903 Springfield rifles (with bayonets), 724 M1911 pistols, 16 M1903 medical bolos, and, of course, 425 Patton-style M1913 cavalry sabers.
These optimistically formed four NG Cavalry divisions, the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.
At the division level, there was a 103-man light tank company with 18 M1917 (Renault FT) tanks and 7 truck-pulled 37mm guns as well as an 89-man armored car company with 12 M1/M2 armored Scout cars, and a 520-man battalion of 12 horse-drawn 75mm field guns (in three batteries) and seven AAA MGs. While authorized, few divisions actually had these exotic bits of kit other than the Regular Army’s 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions, which each housed four active Cavalry regiments.
The 3rd Cavalry Division was openly just a “paper” division with its support units in the Reserve and never in its 19-year interwar history drilled as a unit.
`Troop A, 1st Squadron, 108th Cavalry Regiment, Georgia National Guard at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. in 1930
It should be noted, however, that the TOE for each NG cavalry troop in peacetime would be just 65 officers and men (against the fully-manned wartime authorization of 123) but had only 32 horses, enough for training, yet still requiring a massive influx of trained horse flesh in wartime, followed by a good 6 months to a year of unit training before they could be deployed.
Further, these regiments were slowly reformatted as hybrid horse-mechanized units, with elements of both, with horse (and trooper) numbers dropping while traditional items like the saber were abandoned after 1934.
Wyoming National Guard’s 115th Cavalry Regiment in its final format, circa 1940, with jeeps, motorcycles, and trucks augmenting the regimental band and horse soldiers.
At the same time, the Army Reserve amazingly had 24 horse cavalry regiments, numbered 301st through 324th, in six divisions (!) numbered the 61st through 66th. With somehow even fewer horses on hand than the NG units, these regiments typically had to borrow NG horses, those from CMMG or ROTC units, or trek to the U.S. 3rd Cavalry’s stables at Fort Myers in the summer to train.
Meanwhile, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment pitched in to train Great Plains Army Reservists at Fort Riley, Kansas. The 14th Cav maintained a Cavalry riding school at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, specifically to train Midwestern Army Reservists, where, in 1936, their 2nd Squadron taught future president Ronald Reagan how to ride horses, by the numbers.
Reagan’s military service began with the U.S. Army Reserve via at-home Army Extension courses in 1935. He was a private in the Iowa-based 322nd Cavalry Regiment before being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps. He was later assigned to the 323rd Cavalry Regiment in California and in 1942 requested a transfer to the USAAF, where he helped produce 400 training films in the 1st Motion Picture Unit.
While it was estimated that the Army would need over 200,000 horses immediately in wartime if all 44 Guard and Reserve horse cav regiments and their 10 divisional organizations were fully-fleshed out, the service typically only procured between 1,500 and 2,500 new horses every year in the 1930s, including use for both active and reserve cavalry and artillery, and at the end of the 1941 fiscal year the remount depots only had 28,000 horses on hand.
By the fall of 1940, with the Guard federalized, of the existing 19 NG cavalry regiments, 7 were reorganized into mechanized regiments, 6 were converted to field artillery, and 4 to coastal artillery.
Only two, the Texas 112th and 124th, were given a reprieve as horse cavalry and would be brigaded together as the 56th Cavalry Brigade, which survived until March 1944 when they put their horses to pasture and became the 56th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized, bound for the CBI theatre.
Likewise, the massive Army Reserve “cavalry” force saw its 24 regiments melt away by 1942 when they were hollowed out by having their assigned personnel called to active duty and reassigned to Regular Army and federalized National Guard units. The empty unit shells were typically reclassified into Signal Aircraft Warning (radar) battalions and Tank Destroyer battalions (notably the 62nd, 63rd, 65th, 66th, 70th, 71st, and 75th), then rebuilt with new personnel.
Most of the “U.S” branded horses were “loaned” to the USCG, who took 3,900 for WWII beach patrol work, while over 7,000 went overseas as military aid to allies.
The Constabulary
While there was a short resurgence of small horse-mounted recon detachments formed in divisions in 1944-45, notably with the 10th Mountain, who experienced possibly the final U.S. Army mounted cavalry charge, the 35,000-strong U.S. Constabulary force in occupied Germany from 1946-52 included much use of horses.
Organized into 10 regiments, the circa 1946 TOE of each allowed for a horse platoon with 30 horses to patrol difficult terrain.
Even afterward, the Army’s Berlin Garrison was authorized 56 horses for the use of the force there as late as 1958.
“One of the famous Constabulary regiment horse patrols”
Short-lived resurgence
The Army’s last dedicated pack horse unit, the 35th QM Pack Co., was deactivated at Fort Carson, Colorado, in the spring of 1957.
Man don’t those white horses glow at night! Green Berets from 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) ride horses to travel through rough terrain during a site reconnaissance training exercise on March 1, 2016 in Nevada. (U.S. Army photo by 3rd SFG (A) Combat Camera)
Plus, there was a steady resurgence post-Vietnam of ceremonial horse detachments on posts with a history going back to the Old West days.
The 11th ACR’s “Black Horse” Detachment at Fort Irwin
About that.
The Army last week announced that it was “streamlining its Military Working Equid program to align more resources with warfighting capability and readiness. MWEs include horses, mules, and donkeys owned by the Department of Defense and housed on Army installations.”
This means that, of its current seven horse detachments– often staffed by volunteers on collateral duty– just two will remain.
Starting in July 2025, the Army will sunset ownership, operation, and materiel support of MWE programs at Fort Irwin, California; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and Fort Hood, Texas.
However, MWE programs will continue with The Old Guard Caisson units at the Military District of Washington and at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
“This initiative will save the Army $2 million annually and will allow the funds and Soldiers dedicated to MWE programs to be redirected to readiness and warfighting priorities.
An estimated 141 current Army horses will be moved out to new homes.
“Installation commanders will have one year to transfer, facilitate adoption, or donate the MWEs to vetted owners according to federal law. The Army Surgeon General’s MWE Task Force, comprised of equine veterinarian experts, will provide oversight to ensure the MWEs go to appropriate owners.”
Of note, the Caisson Platoon just resumed limited operations at Arlington last month.
A touching image, some 80 years ago today, with an almost unfathomable background.
Official period caption: “Lecco, Italy. PFC George Morihiro, Co I, 442nd Inf. Regt., adopted a little orphan, one of the group from the St. Joseph’s orphanage, which attended the 4th of July party at the Red Cross given by the members of the 442nd Regt., for the evening, and made sure that she had plenty of sweets to eat.”
U.S. Army Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-340940 by Menikheim, 3131st Signal Photo Platoon. National Archives Identifier 404791224
Just in case you didn’t immediately grasp it, the famed 442nd “Go for Broke” Regimental Combat Team was made up of Japanese American troops during WWII. One of the most decorated units in U.S. military history– including five Presidential Unit Citations, 21 MoHs, and 18,000 other individual decorations– the second-generation “Nisei” men who filled its ranks often hailed from families shamefully interned by the federal government under armed guard during the war.
Born in September 1924, in Tacoma, Washington, to Gunjiro and Tsuru Morihiro, George graduated from high school in Fife, Washington, and was eager to volunteer for the Army prior to Pearl Harbor. Following the start of the Pacific War, his family was removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center and the Minidoka Concentration Camp, Idaho, where 13,000 Americans were detained in the high desert.
Nonetheless, he joined the Army in late 1943, was sent to Camp Shelby, and, in what he thought was punishment for talking smack to a sergeant there, was promptly designated as a BAR man, toting the 21-pound M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle. As anyone can tell you, it sucks to carry a BAR to the range and back, I can’t imagine having to tote one through the gumbo mud of Mississippi or up a mountain in Italy, but George did it.
Earning a Purple Heart in action against the Gothic Line, Staff Sgt. Morihiro returned to Fife after the war. Attending photography school, he worked 20 years for Tall’s Camera Supply and 24 years as owner of GEM Photo Distributors. He was also active in the Nisei Veterans Association, speaking to school groups and community organizations about his wartime experiences, going on to leave a nine-part oral history in 1998.
George passed in 2009, aged 85, and left behind a son and grandchildren. Because, of course, he did.
Official period caption: Independence Day celebration at a 10th Air Force Base “somewhere in India,” 4 July 1945. Lockheed P-38 Lightnings fire their 50 cal. machine guns and 20mm cannon.
These are possibly the “Twin Dragons” of the 80th FG’s 459th Fighter Squadron (459th FS), which at the time were based at Dudhkundi, supporting operations over Burma.
(U.S. Air Force Number 62693AC. National Archives Identifier 204961221)
Stay safe out there in your own little part of America this weekend, gents.
Only produced for a single year by the Army’s Rock Island Arsenal, the RIA-marked National Match “GI Custom” 1911 .45 is a rare gun.
Why National Match?
So-called “National Match” 1911s date back to custom-fit target guns made to compete in the U.S. National Matches held annually, first in New Jersey and Florida and then at Camp Perry, Ohio. Modifications made by military armorers and famous Colt rep Henry “Fitz” FitzGerald to GI guns led Colt to introduce a specific National Match 1911 model in 1933, with lessons learned from the event guns. Except for the gap between 1941 and 1957, Colt National Match 1911s continue to be produced, in small numbers.
Early Colt National Matches, such as this circa 1932 model in the Guns.com Vault, were little more than standard 1911s with a tuned trigger and better barrel. Only about 3,000 Colt NM pistols were made before World War II (Photo: Guns.com)
An M1911-equipped Marine Gunnery Sergeant Henry M. Bailey, winner of the Custer Trophy at the National Rifle Matches, Camp Perry, Ohio, summer 1930. First awarded in 1927, the Custer is still presented to the winner of the National Trophy Individual Pistol Match. (Photo: National Archives)
After World War II ended, with the Colt NM gun at the time out of production, the Army looked into making its own. The program, run out of the Army’s old Springfield Armory complex in Massachusetts, took existing GI M1911s already in inventory and re-worked them into more match-friendly guns. A National Match specification was established, and the conversion process included not only hand fitting and tuning but a new “hard” slide, either from Colt or Drake Manufacturing, while triggers, springs, bushings, and sights became an evolutionary process tweaked every season.
The 1962 standard GI Springfield Armory produced NM 1911 pistol. Note the sights. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
The 1962 standard GI Springfield Armory produced NM 1911 pistol. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
The 1963 standard GI Springfield Armory produced NM 1911 pistol. Note the adjustable rear sights. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
Between 1955 and 1967, Springfield Armory produced 24,055 NM M1911s, an average of about 1,850 guns per year. Of these, most were sent to assorted military marksmanship teams while just 3,876 were sold to the public through the Army-run Director of Civilian Marksmanship program, an organization that became the non-profit federally chartered Civilian Marksmanship Program in 1996.
Lieutenant Colonel Walter Walsh, Team Captain, Marine Corps Rifle and Pistol Team, 1955 National Matches. Note his NM 1911 complete with target sights and a Colt commercial slide. A competitive shooter on the FBI pistol team during the 1930s bank robbery era, he was on the teams that tracked down criminal Arthur Barker, son of gangster Ma Barker, as well as “Public Enemy Number One” Al Brady. Serving in the Marines in WWII, he reportedly made a 90-yard shot with an M1911 on a Japanese sniper on Okinawa. He went on to compete in 50M Pistol at the 1948 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal with the United States team in the 25 m Center-Fire Pistol event at the 1952 ISSF World Championships. (Photo: National Archives.)
However, with the Pentagon’s decision in the 1960s to close Springfield Armory as a money-saving measure (it would reopen in 1978 as a National Historic Site), it was decided that the Army’s in-house National Match program would shift its home to Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois.
The Short RIA NM 1911 Run
According to the FY1967 Rock Island Annual Historical Report, due to the planned phase out of Springfield Armory by the Army in February 1966, Rock Island sent two mechanical engineers and three armorers to Massachusetts to be trained specifically to support the National Matches.
Following five weeks of OTJ at Springfield, the Rock Island contingent worked side by side with Springfield Armory personnel at Camp Perry in the summer of 1966 while the tooling for the NM 1911 program shuffled from Massachusetts to Illinois. By September of that year, Rock Island officially received the Work Authorizations for the NM program, and the following month, the Army released the funds to proceed.
The program was authorized to complete overhauls on 1,533 caliber .45 M1911 National Match pistols, convert another 848 M1911 pistols to National Match standard, and overhaul 2,462 NM M14 rifles. However, the guns didn’t arrive at RIA until the end of 1966, while the technical data package was not received from Springfield until late January 1967. This put the program behind, and it wasn’t until March 1967 that a team of about 45 military and civilian armorers – many from marksmanship units from across the Army – had begun training, spread out in three, four-week classes, at RIA by the NM cadre instructors. It was only then that assembly began at the armory’s Building 61.
These original color photos were taken of the RIA NM 1911 line in Building 61 in June 1967, with armorers fitting pistols to precise National Match standards.
The production process included careful hand-fitting of the slide and parts. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
As well as detailed work, making sure the trigger and action were smooth as glass. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
Checkering the pistol’s front strap. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
Testing of finished pistols included firing proof rounds, left, and minimum accuracy tests, right, from fixtures.
Finished NM 1911s at RIA, 1967. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
The RIA NM 1911 standard. (Photo: Rock Island Arsenal Museum)
By July 6, 1967, 1,820 National Match M14 rifles and 1,764 NM M1911 pistols had been delivered to Camp Perry, notes the report. That August, nine RIA NM armorers went to the matches at Camp Perry to support the month-long effort there.
Then came the thunderbolt news that, with almost 500,000 U.S. troops stationed in Vietnam, the 1968 National Matches were canceled. It was the first time since 1950, when the matches were canceled during the Korean War, that Camp Perry would be shuttered for the summer. Further, the Gun Control Act of 1968 put a serious crimp on how guns were sold on the commercial market, one that is still felt today.
This brought about the end of the NM custom shop guns, with much more limited production shifted to the Army Marksmanship Unit’s Custom Firearms Shop, which continues to operate today.
Meet RIA NM 1911 #4784
The author was recently lucky enough to pick up a 4th Round Range Grade military surplus M1911 from the CMP.
A Military Model M1911A1 frame, serial number 824784, the pistol had been manufactured in 1942 at Colt. According to the CMP Forums, using the old Springfield Research Service books, it was accepted by the Army and shipped to Springfield Armory between September 18 and October 22, 1942. It likely went from there to an Army unit in Europe, as pistols in its serial number range soon after left for the New York Port of Embarkation.
Then, surely in the 1967 time frame, it was subsequently selected for upgrade to a National Match competition-grade pistol at Rock Island Arsenal, as it has both “RIA” and “NM” marked on the right side of the frame. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It has a Colt NM 7791435 marked slide including a 1/8” .358 high front sight. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The right side is marked: “Colts PT. F.A. Mfg. Co. Hartford, Conn. U.S.A.” Lightly scratched into the rear of the right slide is “WC” likely denoting it is for use with wadcutter ammo only. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The gun carries a Colt NM 7791414 marked barrel, with the last four serial numbers (4784) electro-penciled to the hood. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The NM7267718 barrel bushing also carries a 4784. The bushing was an extremely tight fit to the barrel and slide. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It carries a large U.S.-marked Kensight adjustable rear sight. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Note the aluminum trigger, which breaks at an amazingly crisp 3 pounds. Also note the “dummy mark” from some past incorrect reassembly at some point in the past 50+ years. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The milled front strap is standard for an RIA NM 1911. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Continued use?
Following likely use by a division, post, regional, Army, state, or other-level Marksmanship Training Unit, some signs point to #4784 being converted a second time since leaving RIA in 1967-68.
A look at the internals. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Compared to a standard GI Colt military model from 1944. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The uncheckered straight mainspring housing is different from the NM standards, likely installed in later years. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It carries late model (Ergo XT Rigid intro’d in 2007) tapered black checkered plastic grips. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It has a UID label on the bottom of the dust cover. The Army only started putting these on guns starting around 2004. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Doing the archival work, a FOIA request to the Army pulled the inventory records for the gun going back to 1975. It spent a lot of time at Fort Lewis, Washington, with “unknown” unit owners back when the 9th Infantry Division and 2nd Ranger Battalion were there. Sent to Anniston Army Depot in January 1989, it was soon turned around and sent to the Concept Evaluation Support Agency in Lexington (Bluegrass Army Depot) in October 1990, where it stayed for a few months before being sent to the 1st Cavalry at Fort Hood, then back to CESA in April 1992. Of note, CESA is the main supply depot for Army Special Forces and SOCOM units.
The FOIA puts the gun everywhere from Washington state to Kentucky, Alabama, and Texas over a 48-year timeline. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The pistol remained at CESA for almost 30 years, including the entire Global War on Terror. As the Program Executive Office for Special Operations Forces Support Activity (PEO-SOFSA) was at Bluegrass, the pistol may have been a loaner. Issued as needed and returned after a requirement, especially during the high-tempo SOCOM operations in the early 2000s, it may have never been “officially” transferred on paper. This could account for the OIF-era UIC sticker, Ergo Rigid grips, and straight main spring housing. Barring an email from some operator who remembers the gun and its serial, we may never know. Some GI NM 1911s have been documented as former Delta Force guns, and SF widely used accurized .45s for years post 9/11.
Sent to Anniston Army Depot storage in June 2020, #4784 was transferred to the CMP in July 2023. From there, it has just been in the Eger family collection and will stay there until its next chapter.
Special thanks to the Rock Island Arsenal Museum for their assistance with this article. If you are ever in the area, please stop in and visit the facility while you still can. It is slated, along with 20 other base museums, to close in the next few years.
