10 - 070 Garand Picture of the Day - Ft Benning, GA,

Soldiers taking rifle practice combat training.
Location: Ft Benning, GA, US
Date taken: 1943
Photographer: Myron Davis


https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo..._landing-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...74_large-1.jpg

Must be real early M1's. Note NO finish left on the gas cylinder or barrel ring of the closest two rifles of the bottom photo. By the way, does anyone have ANY idea who these guys would be? Ft Benning?? 82nd? Rangers? They just don't look like standard mudrollers. The gloves in the top pic were on issue to airborne not infantry right?

Units that have called Fort Benning Home



Since it's beginnings in 1918, Fort Benning has been home to many units. These include:

Infantry School
Army Tank School (1932-1938; Moved to Fort Knox as Armor School)
1940's Airborne Test Platoon and School
Rangers
1st Infantry Division
7th Armored Division
2nd Armored Division
10th Armored Division
47 Infantry Division
75th Ranger Regimental Headquarters, 3rd Battalion
4th Infantry Division
87th Infantry Division
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized)
2nd Infantry Division
3rd Brigade, 24th ID (Mechanical)
Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation
71st Infantry Division
1st Calvary Division
197th Infantry Brigade
11th Airborne Division (Air Assault)
2nd Brigade, 10th Infantry Division
11th Infantry Regiment
29th Infantry Regiment
36th Engineer Group

These pictures were taken by a LIFE photographer in 1943 for an article in the magazine about the Infantry's Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning. My Dad attended the school in the Summer of 1942. Candidates were to be fully trained (if they weren't already) in every weapon that the infantry employed, from the pistol to the 81mm mortar, including the 37mm anti-tank gun.

You will note that one of the candidates in the first photo has a name tag on his hat; I still have my father's name tag, which looks exactly the same.

I think we already established some time ago, in another thread that these were OCS. Good to have confirmation.

Sorry for any redundancy. I'm more of a lurker than a poster, and I came across this shot today doing some digging in the Garand pictures. The LIFE article was in the issue of June 7th, 1943.