On 27 December 1932, the U.S. Patent Office granted Case File No. 1,892,141, for a “Semi-Automatic Rifle” to one John C. Garand, aged 44 of Massachusetts. The rest is history.
The 75-page patent application filled out and filed by Mr. Garand himself is so historical that it is fully digitized in the U.S. National Archives.
Filed in April 1930, it was endorsed by the Secretary of War with W.N. Roach, the Army’s Chief of the Patent Branch of the Ordnance Department, signing the drawing sheets and application forms as Garand’s attorney of record. His address was simply listed as Springfield Armory.
The petition, signed by Garand. (Photo: National Archives)
Among the most captivating pieces of the application were several pages of diagrams, all of which are suitable for framing in any man cave.
National Museum of The Marine Corps Collection (2012.1001.362)
LT Randy Rule carefully re-linked spent brass cartridges to decorate the tree, topped by a small American flag, for Echo Company (likely of 2/6 Marines), which overlooks Amal Village in Beirut, Lebanon, on 26 December 1983.
Starting 30 November and running through the first week of December 1944, the “Angels” from the 11th Airborne Division made their first combat jump– Operation King II, better known later as “Operation Table Top,” for reasons that will be obvious.
Unlike the huge brigade, division, and even corps-sized jumps seen in Europe from the Allied airborne forces already in the war, Table Top– targeting a short airstrip near Manawarat on Leyte in the Philippines to cut off a Japanese withdrawal– was a more pin-point operation. Rather than squadrons of C-46s/47s, each dropping sticks of a dozen men at once, Table Top came down to one Paratrooper at a time from grasshopper single-engined liaison aircraft, L4/L5 Cubs/Stinsons. Anything larger would have left men hanging in coconut trees.
In his book “Love in an Altered State” about his father, SSG Bill Potoka, Platoon Sergeant of 3rd Platoon, Co C, 127th AEB, Mr. William Potoka describes Sky Beaver actions:
“Named Operation Table Top, the drop zone was 600′ x 200′ and fringed with coconut trees. Manarawat was to become the hub of all operations of the Division in Leyte Mountains. 1st Platoon supported C Co, 511th PIR. The jump was made one paratrooper at a time from L4 and L5 Cub airplanes. The cub planes zoomed the drop zone and pushed out a paratrooper on each zoom.”
In his book “When Angels Fall” about his Grandfather, 1LT Andrew Carrico III, of the 511th PIR, 11th A/B, Jeremy Holm describes Sky Beaver actions:
“Engineers from the 127th AEB soon jumped on Manawarat to clear a larger landing with explosives which increased the range of the Division’s L-4s (L-5s couldn’t handle landing there) for artillery spotting, unit locating and casualty evacuation. Medical staff from 221st Airborne Medical Company airdropped soon after along with equipment for a Portable Surgical Hospital that further enlarged “Rayon City”.
Casualties carried to Manawarat were cared for by three surgeons, ten surgical technicians and other medical staff working out of a thatched and parachute-covered bamboo structure. Once the wounded were stabilized, they either recuperated on Manawarat then went back to their units or were flown to San Pablo then on to larger hospitals at Dulag (or back to the states).
With such a shoestring op, as the paratroopers remained on the ground at Manawarat, they had to make do with what they had for the rest of the month and “Rayon City” was born. After all, what would you make from hundreds of yards of parachute shrouds and thousands of feet of paracord?
December 1944. Official caption: “Rayon City,” the camp at Manawarat on Leyte Island in the Philippines. Shown here are men of the 11th Airborne Division, preparing for evening chow. House in the background is a native hut, now used as a radio shack and Command Post.
(U.S. Air Force Number 58643AC) National Archives Identifier: 204950331
“A shortwave radio being used in the Manawarat mission against the Japs on Leyte Island in the Philippines. Here, T/4 Warren Scott of Portland, Oregon repairs the set. [Note, he is likely from HQs Grp 511th PSig Co.]”
(U.S. Air Force Number 58644AC). National Archives Identifier: 204950127
“The Manawarat strip on Leyte Island in the Philippines is named ‘Randolph Field’ because many of the pilots there were trained at Randolph Field, Texas. The perimeter of the strip is marked with discarded parachutes. When large para-packs full of supplies, dropped on Randolph Field on Leyte Island in the Philippines, they made large holes in the strip, so the Engineers stand by to fill in the holes as soon as the pack is carried away.”
(U.S. Air Force Number 58641AC) National Archives Identifier:204950327
“The 11th Airborne Division Spends Christmas At Manawarat On Leyte Island In The Philippines And To Properly Celebrate The Occasion, Turkey Was Flown In And Shown Here Is A Vultee L-5 Dropping Fresh Bread Packed In Barracks Bags.”
(U.S. Air Force Number A58653AC) National Archives Identifier:204951950
“The 11Th Airborne Division Spends Christmas At Manawarat On Leyte Island In The Philippines And To Properly Celebrate The Occasion, Turkey Was Flown In. Shown Here Are A Group Of Men Carrying The Cases Of The Tinned Bird To The Food Dump.”
(U.S. Air Force Number 58653AC) National Archives Identifier: 204951948
This included a drop of five gallons of ice cream especially for those “Angels” that had been hurt on landing or taken sick due to assorted jungle malaise and had been laid up in the strip “hospital” where apparently making grass skirts was a thing.
“The Recuperation Ward of the hospital at Manawarat on Leyte Island in the Philippines. Here the men with less serious wounds or sicknesses are hospitalized until they are well enough to return to duty. The man at left is making a ‘grass skirt’ from rayon shrouds of discarded parachutes. (U.S. Air Force Number 58648AC)
24 December 1939, France, likely while pierside in Brest, during the “Phony War” period of WWII: a theatre show by the Comédie-Française is given on Christmas Eve aboard the French aircraft carrier Béarn.
Réf. : MARINE 86-820 Jean Manzon/ECPAD/Défense
Note the Seaman 3rd class with his distinctive Bachi cap and Equipages de la Flotte crossed anchors insignia, standing solemn in front of a rack of a dozen or so rifles that look to be Berthier carbines and St. Etienne 8mm Model 1892 revolvers.
A better look at the revolvers locked into their racks with a padlock.
Converted from a canceled Normandie-class battleship in an effort to make lemonade out of lemons in the aftermath of the Washington Naval Treaty, Béarn was similar in concept to the massive battlewagons-turned-flattops conversions seen in the U.S. (USS Lexington and USS Saratoga) Britain (HMS Furious and HMS Glorious) and Japan (Akagi and Kaga) in the 1920s but was arguably the worst of its kind.
Planned French Normandie-class battleship became Bearn after Washington Treaty
With a shorter hull than her contemporaries, while the Americans and Japanese could pile 80-100 aircraft on each of their conversions, and the Brits could run as many as 50 on theirs, Béarn only had enough hangar and topside space for a 32-aircraft airwing– and often carried fewer than that. This was further aggravated by the fact that she was the Republic’s sole carrier, and would remain so for most of her career.
French cruiser Bearn, via Janes
Sure, she was still armed as a light cruiser with eight 6.1/50cal guns, replicating the “throw” of the new Duguay-Trouin class cruisers, as well as secondary and tertiary batteries for defense against aircraft and small boats, but who really expected a carrier to engage in a surface gun action?
Even when flattops had no other option than to try and duke it out– for example, the much out-gunned USS Gambier Bay in 1944 and HMS Glorious in 1940– it was always a bad idea. The fact that Béarn could only make 20 knots at a sprint meant she would have been in the same dead-end scenario had she encountered a German or Japanese heavy cruiser much less a battleship.
Without much to do, Béarn spent most of the early stages of WWII in limited patrol and pilot training then was fortunate enough to be overseas on a trip to the U.S. to pick up aircraft when France fell. Diverted to the Vichy-held colony of Martinique, she languished there for most of the rest of the conflict, partially disarmed and sabotaged, only getting in the game in the last few months of the war.
Firearms icon Savage Arms is expanding its new pistol line with a full dozen new 1911 offerings including rail guns.
Announced this week on the countdown to SHOT Show 2023, the new Savage 1911 line will be available in both 9mm and .45 calibers, three assorted color options– black Melonite, stainless, and two-tone– and either a standard or railed frame.
Nice to see more rail gun 1911s on the market…
Across the line, the Savage 1911s all use a forged stainless steel frame and slide, adjustable Novak Lo-Mount sights, Nitride-coated titanium firing pins, ambidextrous slide lock/safety levers, and a host of other features. All are full-sized, single-action Government-style pistols with 5-inch barrels and VZ G10 grip panels.
Between the three color options, two caliber choices, and the option for either a standard or railed frame, Savage will have a full dozen different 1911s to choose from. (Photo: Savage)
That’s because it is the first in my life without my grandfather.
A career NCO (Signal Corps), he joined the Guard as a teenager during the war in Korea and then transitioned to active service, serving as an adviser to the Shah’s Army, to that of the King of Iraq, to the West Germans, and then the South Vietnamese, the latter repeatedly. After traveling around the globe for most of his 23 years of active duty, he retired as a promotable E8, declining to take the extra bump and be a 30-year man because it would have meant finishing his next contract in the Beltway, something he said that he just wasn’t built for.
So, he retired, picked up his family from Fort Gordon, then headed back home to Mississippi. This included his newly-born first grandson– me.
My grandpa and I in 1975, just after he left the Army, with his brand new bouncing baby grandson. The carpet on the wall behind him he brought back to the states from some bazaar in Iran, back when it was called Persia. The right is him just last year, a proud old bearded Vietnam vet.
Now, he is gone, and, while I have written professionally for the past 20 years, including several books, thousands of articles, and thousands more blog posts, his obituary was the toughest thing I ever had to write.
Over 8.7 million Americans served in the Armed Forces during the Vietnam era from 1964 to 1973, and it is thought that well over a third of those have already left us, with more packing their sea bags and duffles every day. The number of Korean War era Vets is even smaller and is expected to fall below 200,000 in the next couple of years.
In December of 1956, the crew of the Midway-class “Attack Aircraft Carrier”USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) assembled on the ship’s flight deck to send holiday greetings to the world. As noted by the Virginia Pilot archives of this U.S. Navy image, the ship was on the way back from the eastern Atlantic to Norfolk Naval Shipyard following a tense scratch deployment in response to the Suez Crisis.
Originally laid down as the future USS Coral Sea in December 1943, she was renamed in honor of the late FDR in May 1945– first time (but not the last) that the Navy made an exception to the traditional naming of fleet aircraft carriers for battles or famous ships.
Commissioned too late for WWII as CVB-42, the big (968-foot/45,000-ton) carrier lost her very 1945 strait-deck, open bowed appearance via a two-year SCB-110 modernization at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard between 1954 and 56, and emerged at some 51,000-tons standard displacement with the more modern angled deck and hurricane bow that is still distinctive among American flattops today.
The above image was taken as FDR was rushed from her post-modernization sea trials to complete a surge operation with Carrier Air Group 17 (CVG-17) embarked for Sixth Fleet.
Carrier Air Group 17’s composition during FDR’s Suez Crisis run, via Go Navy
At the time, Roosevelt was arguably the largest and most capable carrier anywhere in the world– sisters USS Midway (CVA-41) would not complete her SCB-110 in Sept. 1957 and USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) wouldn’t complete her SCB-110A mod until 1960; while the two new “supercarriers,” class leader USS Forrestal (CVA-59) and USS Saratoga (CVA-60) were so busy with shakedowns and post-delivery refits they weren’t ready to deploy overseas with air wings for real until 1957.
Nonetheless, the still-infant Forrestal and the newly rebuilt FDR were called up to bat.
As noted by DANFS:
The U.S. received information on 6 November 1956, that the Soviets intended to deploy six ships from the Black Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean. Just four minutes before midnight the Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered Forrestal (CVA-59), Franklin D. Roosevelt, a cruiser, and three divisions of destroyers to the vicinity of the Azores Islands to reinforce the Sixth Fleet. Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, CNO, in the meanwhile dispatched Coral Sea and Randolph to steam off the Egyptian coast, from where they could support the evacuation of Americans or strike against the Soviets. Submarines deployed to reconnaissance stations, and antisubmarine warfare aircraft and ships patrolled multiple areas across the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The operations by the Sixth Fleet during subsequent weeks included the logistic support of the initial UN peacekeeping forces that arrived in the area on 15 November. Franklin D. Roosevelt returned home from the tense voyage on 9 December 1956, and on the 13th the Sixth Fleet stood down from a 24-hour alert status.
The U.S. Coast Guard has been making great use of its large frigate-sized Berthoff-class national security cutters, showing them off in the past couple of years as true worldwide deployable assets. This has included severalWestpac cruises and Fourth Fleet missions, and, as witnessed by the arrival of USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753) at her homeport Wednesday following a 94-day deployment as part of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, even Europe.
While some would grouse that it is out of step for the “Coast” Guard to deploy overseas under the Navy’s control in peacetime, it helps build those national defense/intelligence skills needed should they ever have to do it for real– of note, Hamilton exercised with the Gerald Ford carrier group while the new carrier made its first “warm” deployment— but also allows an easier mesh with allied littoral coast guard types than the Navy would be able to pull off with a 9,000-ton DDG.
Plus, things like migrant interdiction and fisheries enforcement missions aren’t really in Big Navy’s wheelhouse.
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Arthur Flaherty, a boatswain’s mate assigned to the USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753), prepares to transfer Hamilton crewmembers onto the Swedish Coast Guard vessel Amfitrite in the Baltic Sea, Oct. 31, 2022. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Alejandro Rivera)
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Denzel Canty and Petty Officer 3rd Class Drew Freiheit, maritime enforcement specialists assigned to USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753), conduct a tactical exercise with members of the Finnish Border Guard’s Special Intervention Unit while underway in the Baltic Sea, Nov. 3, 2022. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Alejandro Rivera)
As noted by USCG Atlantic Area:
Hamilton began its deployment with a transatlantic voyage to Rota, Spain, and met with operational commanders from U.S. Sixth Fleet. After Spain, the cutter transited through the English Channel and Danish Straits, two vitally significant waterways that provide safe passage for 15% of the world’s shipping.
Immediately upon entering the Baltic Sea region, Hamilton conducted at-sea exchanges with naval, coast guard and border guard forces of multiple Baltic Sea allies and partners, including Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Each engagement was oriented to support either traditional Coast Guard missions or in combination with defense readiness exercises used to enhance interoperability between the U.S. and NATO partners.
As the first U.S. military vessel to visit Turku, Finland in over a decade, Hamilton hosted public tours of the cutter and held a reception for U.S. and Finnish government and military leaders. Guests included the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Finland, the deputy chief of the Finnish Border Guard, the state secretary of the Ministry of Interior, and the mayor of Turku. The visit also served to reinforce the long-standing partnership between the Finnish Border Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Additionally, Hamilton is the first U.S. Coast Guard cutter to visit Riga, Latvia in more than 20 years. The crew met with the U.S. Ambassador to Latvia and hosted a reception on board Hamilton for members of Latvia’s navy and coast guard to include the Latvian navy’s chief of staff and the commander of the Latvian coast guard. Hamilton also served as a backdrop to Latvia’s 104th Freedom Day celebration alongside NATO forces.
Ruger announced its new Small-Frame Autoloading Rifle, or SFAR earlier this year, and I’ve spent the past few months kicking the proverbial tires on this .308 Winchester-chambered AR.
Not an AR10 and, of course, not really an AR15, the SFAR is something different. But it’s a good sort of different.
At 6.8 pounds out of the box and just 9.45 pounds shown well-equipped with an Eotech EXPS3 red dot on a QD mount for a primary optic, Magpul MBUS3 backup sights, and a BFG Vickers sling on Magpul QD swivels with 20 rounds of Federal 185-grain Berger open-tip match loaded in a steel Duramag, this hard-hitting little 308 still delivers and only runs 34 inches overall with the stock collapsed.
Plus, it delivers on target due to the fact that Ruger, while they gave the SFAR a skimpy handguard and lots of lightening cuts, they didn’t skimp on the heavy profile cold hammer-forged 4140 chrome-moly barrel with 1:10 RH 5R rifling.
Plus folks really, and I mean really, like this rifle. I got this poem as feedback on the SFAR, which is one of the top-selling in its class:
The meme image (“THIS, I love!”) was added by me, but the poem is art.
Via the National Army Museum, Waiouru, New Zealand, the end of an era, 50 years ago today:
22nd December 1972, the NZ Army withdraws its troops from Vietnam. Today we acknowledge the service of the 3,400 New Zealanders who served in Vietnam during the war between June 1964 and December 1972. We honor the 37 personnel who died on active duty, the 187 who were wounded, some very seriously, and all those who have suffered long-term effects.
The Vietnam War was our longest and most contentious military experience of the twentieth century. Back home, the Vietnam War led to enormous political and public debate about New Zealand’s foreign policy and place in the world.
Note the kiwi tattoo
Note the mix of kit on these recce guys, including triple canteens, Boonie hats, M16A1s, and inch pattern L1A1 FALs
