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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:44:54 GMT 8
Here is an excerpt from the book, “Death March”, a collection of short first-hand accounts throughout the war timeline, compiled by Donald Knox.
Now this is interesting because it’s the only account I encountered that said anything negative about the Garand. I have tried to corroborate the claim made by Pfc Snyder by asking other veterans who had used the the Garand in Bataan. Nobody agreed with the statement made by Snyder. Tillman Rutledge of F Company dispute this claim that most of the 31st Infantry exchanged their M1’s for Springfields. He said that they had a hard time acquiring a few Springfields for sniper hunting, how could “most of the 31st” have exchanged their M1’s for Springfields? He also thought it was absurd to exchange the M1’s for Springfields wholesale because they prized them for their fire power in the jungle.
I therefore conclude that maybe in Snyder’s immediate squad, maybe they didn’t take care and clean their rifles so they jammed. But the claim that most of the 31st Infantry traded their Garands for Springfields was just a hyperbole, a figure of speech.
Unfortunately, I’ve met some people online who have read this book and this passage took it as gospel -- and clung on to the notion that the M1’s were a non-factor in the Battle for Bataan. Either way, it’s still a mention and proof in support of this thread’s topic that M1’s saw action in Bataan.
----------------------- “Death March”, Donald Knox, Page 30.
Pfc Wilburn Snyder, 3rd Battalion Medics, 31st Infantry
The rifles we had, the first M-1s, looked good but weren’t worth a hoot in the field. We got tired of pulling the trigger and having nothing happen. Most of the 31st Infantry traded them off to the Filipinos for their old Springfields. We knew when pulled the bolt back on an ’03 Springfield and shoved it forward, there’d be a bullet in there ready to fire. You’d take an M-1 out of its rack, hold it carefully in the truck that took you out to the range, get out, shoot, and it would be great. But take it out in combat where it got misused and dirty, and it became highly undependable.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:45:49 GMT 8
Anywhere-Anytime The History of the 57th Infantry (PS) By Col. John E. Olson
Preparations for War Page 23
<omitted text>
Another significant addition to the weapons inventory was the replacement of the 1903 Springfield rifle with the new Garand M-1 (semi) automatic rifle. This new firearm drastically augmented the number of rounds that a rifleman could pour on the enemy in a short period of time. To the consternation of the officers, the Scouts, particularly the older men who had grown up with the Springfield, were not thrilled with the new firearm. They were used to the carefully squeezing off each round. The lessons they had learned on the known distance range carried over into the field firing and produced satisfactory results. The new rifle spawned a tendency to spray the contents of a magazine with fewer hits. This undermined their confidence and required long and painstaking psychological training of even the platoon sergeants and squad leaders. Though they strove to follow the guidance of their officers, they were still skeptical when the war began. In fact, the company commanders were to find, once they got into combat, that some of the men went into the extreme of acquiring by trade or purchase an Enfield rifle with which the Philippine Army were equipped.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:46:54 GMT 8
“One Out of Eleven” Robert S. Kramer (14th Engineers PS)
Page 31 --excerpt—
But back to food for a minute… One day, maybe Saturday as we had left on Thursday 9 April, somebody spotted a wild pig as we were walking through the jungle forest. At a signal we stopped, all standing quietly, and I pointed to Lt. Jorgensen as I knew since he was in C Company that he had been on the rifle team at the University of Nebraska. The pig cooperated and Jorgensen sighted his M-1 rifle and bagged it with a single shot. Incidentally, our division, the Philippine Scout Division, was the only one in the Far East Forces armed with the M-1. The other divisions all had the Enfield as their basic rifle, considerably older than the M-1 and less accurate, with a slower rate of fire. We were all 11 carrying M-1’s plus a .45 pistol and as many clips of ammo as we could put in our strip packs. That was all I was carrying in the pack except for a change of clothes and toilet articles. I had lost my precious air mattress when we went into combat as infantrymen and now didn’t even carry a blanket. Luckily the temperature averaged around 75 at night and 90 during the day and it was not too humid as we were in the dry season in April.The book:
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:48:38 GMT 8
“Racing the Sunrise” The Reinforcement of America’s Pacific Outposts 1941-1942 Glen M. WillifordThis excerpt talks about how MacArthur requested garands for the Philippine Army but was turned down. There was not enough to go around even for the US Army. The US Army combat units get priority for any new garand shipments. Again, it says that the regular US Army combat units were issued M1’s.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:49:31 GMT 8
"Corregidor" The American Alamo of WW2 By Eric Morris
Pages 270-271 (Abucay Hacienda battle)
…
Garleb rolled into a deserted foxhole, and a man with a Garand followed. The young soldier, who was shaking with fear, threw the rifle at him. “I can’t stand it anymore!” he cried. “My buddies are dead!” He begged Garleb to shoot him through the hand. Garleb felt disgusted and revolted; he wanted to shoot him through the head.
Just at that moment Garleb heard a noice behind him and the fire of a heavier-caliber weapon. Garleb grabbed the Garand, turned to the back of the foxhole, clipped off the safety catch, and curled his finger around the trigger. In close country such as this the Garand was an ideal weapon; it didn’t have the bolt action of the Springfield but instead could be pumped like a submachine gun… <omitted text>
The bushes parted and out stepped two American officers and a Philippine Scout. The latter wore a canvas vest that had pockets bulging with drums of ammunition; in his hand he carried a .45 caliber Thompson.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:50:02 GMT 8
“Baby of Bataan” Memoir of a 14 Year Old Soldier in WWII By Joseph Quitman Johnson (31st Infantry)
Chapter 7 – Recruit Training Page 85
…Other days we would do the same routine with the .45 automatic pistols. We learned about the hand grenade. Eventually each squad was given a Garand M-1 rifle. As a heavy weapons company, we did not carry rifles, but we learned how to take one apart and reassemble it and how to use it. All in all, our platoon was shaping up quickly and doing well. It was obvious that Sergeant Metcalf was now taking pride in his platoon.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:51:16 GMT 8
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:51:50 GMT 8
From the book “Odyssey of a Philippine Scout” – by Arthur Kendal Whitehead (26th Cavalry)
--Excerpt--
As the weather cooled, woolen shirts replaced the khaki worn during the hot season. Otherwise the uniform remained the same year around; khaki breeches, boots, and campaign hat, which was exchanged for a steel helmet in the field. The Scout wore an ammunition belt with suspenders, on which were attached his first aid packet, a pouch holding two pistol clips of .45 ammunition. The rifle ammunition pouches on his belt were filled with eight-round clips for the M-1 rifle. Rifle ammunition was ball, except for one clip of armor-piercing and one of tracer. The gas mask hung on his left side.
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:52:06 GMT 8
(interview with Maj. Richard Gordon)
www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-interview-with-major-richard-m-gordon-bataan-death-march-survivor.htm
---excerpt--- MH: How were you taken prisoner?
Gordon: General Lough gave us the word of our unit's surrender. After hearing this, we camped in combat positions on Mount Bataan, known at the time as Signal Hill. A small group of us went farther up the mountain, in an effort to avoid surrender. Several days passed with no sign of the enemy. Hungry and in need of provisions, Corporal Elmer Parks (of Oklahoma) and I volunteered to drive down the hill to our last position in search of supplies. Elmer was driving and I was riding shotgun in a Dodge pickup truck. We gathered up a number of Garand M1 rifles at our former position, left behind by the Japanese, who did not want to use them. Loading the rifles aboard the truck, we decided to go a little farther down the road to where other units had been. Driving down the mountain road, we came upon a huge Philippine banyan tree, so large it served as a road divider. As we approached the tree, a lone Japanese soldier holding a rifle stepped out from behind it. Elmer stopped the truck, and we stared at one another, wondering what to do next. The thought of attempting to run occurred to both of us, as did the thought of picking up one of the newly acquired Garand M1s. But neither of us did a thing, other than stare at the Japanese soldier. Finally, he motioned to us to get out of the truck. At that moment 10 or 15 more Japanese came out from the brush lining the road. They surely had us in their sights all the time and probably would have enjoyed shooting us more than capturing us and adding to their burden
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Post by victor on Jul 19, 2016 21:52:36 GMT 8
From the book, "Undefeated"
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