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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:27:15 GMT 8
Photo of G Company men, 31st Infantry, before the outbreak of war (photo courtesy of RickTheLibrarian) The senior sergeant on the lower right looks like R. Lee Ermey I can't remember where I got this from but these are 31st InfantrymenListening to "The Voice of Freedom" - note the soldier holding an M1This is a Carl Mydans LIFE photo of a 31st Infantryman. I think he's one of two on guard or lookout duty at Fort Santiago. Note the gas port garand!From the same group of shotsThese two soldiers are (L-R) Ralph G. Payne and Albert F. Brown posing while on guard duty. They didn't survive the war. Both men were assigned to Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 31st Infantry Regiment and died in captivity at Cabanatuan.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:28:54 GMT 8
Philippine Scouts showing off captured Japanese items after the Battle of the Points. Note the Scout in the back holding an M1.Video still from the website Critical Past, showing surrendered USAFFE equipment.And as pointed out by RickTheLibrarian, this particular still from the same CriticalPast video of surrendered equipment shows garand enbloc clips strewn with other clips and ammunition:
CriticalPast VIDEO link: www.criticalpast.com/video/65675062378_Japanese-soldiers_World-War-II_captured-equipment_United-States-military-cemetery
The official newspaper caption for this photo is that this is supposed to have been taken in Bataan. But it looks like the central plains of Luzon with the Zambales mountain range in the far distance. My guess is these are 26th Cavalrymen engaged in delaying action in central Luzon. They used molotov cocktails to try to stop tanks.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:30:56 GMT 8
Here is the photo used in the dust jacket of the book Bataan, Our Last Ditch. It’s of an American anti-tank gun crew, it’s most likely a 37mm gun and they’re from the 31st Infantry.
The soldier on the right is holding an M1. It looks like a gas trap version.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:33:04 GMT 8
26th Cavalry PS veteran Dan Figuracion, talks about his first encounter with the Japanese when they invaded the Philippines in 1941. He believes he was the first one to fire the M1 Garand in ground combat in WW2. (I posted a picture of Trooper Dan Figuracion earlier in this thread holding the M1)
His squad of seven men from Troop F, 26th Cavalry was sent on a patrol north of the town of Damortis in Luzon while the Japanese was landing at Lingayen gulf. His squad was ambushed by the Japanese but he escaped because he was 100 yards away on flank security. None from his squad got off a shot as they were gunned down. He was the only one that was able to return fire with his M1. Thus to this day he believes he was the first soldier to engage the enemy in ground combat in WW2 using the M1 Garand, since these were the first shots fired during the Japanese invasion.
There were about 7000 M1 garand rifles in the Philippines at the outbreak of WW2. They were issued to US Army units particularly the US 31st Infantry, the 57th and 45th Infantry Philippine Scouts, the 14th Engineers PS, and the 26th Cavalry Philippine Scouts.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:34:16 GMT 8
This is a war time Japanese magazine publication. Published April 1942. It contains articles and photos about their victory in Bataan. The cover has a flipped photo of an American flag, Kelly helmet, and a Garand.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:34:53 GMT 8
National Archives document courtesy of Bob Hudson Inventory of weapons and ammo at time of surrender... note the M1's carried by this particular platoon. However I wonder if the Enfields were mis-identified Springfield 1903's.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:38:06 GMT 8
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:40:55 GMT 8
Excerpt from "Bataan, Our Last Ditch" by John Whitman.
Page 25, Chapter: Mobilization,
"Both the Americans and Scouts carried the new semiautomatic M1 Garand rifle. Its eight-round clip and rapid fire - twenty to thirty aimed shots a minute - surprised the first Japanese to come up against it. The sights were designed to give good visibility at night, and it proved to be one of the most reliable and rugged rifles in military history. The M1's replacement of the beloved 1903 Springfield did not sit well with all soldiers, especially the older men who were proud of their careful trigger squeeze and marksmanship. The M1 seemed to encourage volume of fire over accuracy, and when war started, some men went to the extreme of swapping their M1's or buying an '03. Although the situation with rifles was good, there was a shortage of light machine guns, 60mm mortars, ...."
Here's an excerpt about the M1's and shortage of M1 clips. Page 353, chapter: The Pockets:
on receiving orders to clear out pockets of Japanese...
"...Each rifleman carried 160 rounds of M1 ammunition, and the machine gunners carried 1,000. Although rifle ammunition was in adequate supple, there was a shortage of M1 clips, which reduced the Scouts to stripping the .30 caliber rounds from five-round Springfield clips and putting them into eight-round M1 clips. But morale was high. A third of the troopers had between eight and thirty years' service, and even the newest reqcruit had at least nine months. All were excellent marksmen. Dressed in khaki trousers, leggings, wool shirts, and steel helmets, the Scouts rolled their packs and shouted, 'Patay sila!', 'They shall die!'"
NOTE: Although none of the veterans both Scouts and 31st Infantry that I've spoken to ever recalll having a shortage of enbloc clips.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:42:11 GMT 8
An exchange between me and Tillman Rutledge back in 2009. Tillman was with F Company, 31st Infantry, and current commander of the Battlin' Bastards of Bataan organization.
---------------- I just wanted to ask you about the M1 Garand during your time in Bataan. 1) When you went through boot camp at Fort McKinley, did you train on M1 Garands right off the bat or did they have you use Springfield 1903's . WE USED BOTH HAD TO QUALIFY WITH BOTH. 2) I heard that many 31st Infantrymen exchanged their Garands for bolt-action Springfields because the Garand jammed all the time. Is this true? THAT. SOURCE?? THE O3 WE USED TO SNIPER HUNT BUT FOR COMBAT WE ALL, THAT I SAW, USED THE M1. THE M1 DID NOT JAM ALL THE TIME. THERE WERE TIMES UP IN THE JUNGLES THAT THEY DID. OF COURSE IF ONE TOOK CARE OF HIS I QUESTION WEAPON THE JAMS WERE VERY INFREQUENTLY. I RECALL ONLY TWICE MY SLIDE JAMMED. I NEVER SAW ONE SOLDIER IN COMBAT USING AN 03. LIKE I SAID, WE DID FOR SNIPER HUNTING AS THE 03 IN OUR OPINION WAS MORE ACCURATE BUT THE M1 HAD FAR MORE FIRE POWER AND LIKE SITTING IN A ROCKING CHAIR TO FIR,.. IF THERE WERE SOME IN OTHER COMPANIES THAT THE CO ALLOWED THIS HE WAS WRONG. IN THE JUNGLES ON THE FRONT ACCURACY IS NOT THE GOAL, IT IS ALL THE FIREPOWER, EXCEPT LIKE I STATED, SNIPERS. A GARAND WAS NOT THAT DIFFICULT TO UNJAM AN M1. 3) Was there a shortage of enbloc clips that held the eight rounds for the Garand? NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE. YOU COULD REFILL THE CLIPS EASILY. WE NEVER HAD A SHORTAGE OF CLIPS AND LIKE STATED, REFILLS ERE EASY. These seem like little insignificant details but they give me a sense of how it was. I hope you don't mind. NO PROBLEM AT ALL, VICTOR. ANY TIME.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:42:56 GMT 8
--Excerpt--
Bataan Death March: A Survivor's Account by William Ed Dyess
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