12-128 Garand Picture of the Day - Grand Reunion
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DAVISON TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- Jim Richardson was aware of the odds when he made up his mind on a birthday gift for his father, Virgil Richardson of Davison Township.
The 54-year old Frankenmuth man wanted to track down the M1 Garand .30-caliber rifle his father carried more than 50 years ago as a soldier in the Korean War and present it to him on his 79th birthday next month.
As unbelievable as it is, that's exactly what Jim Richardson did, and he offered the gift to his father last week, almost a month early.
I couldn't even talk when he gave it to me," he said. "It didn't even have to be the same gun to be important to me."
Virgil Richardson admits he didn't believe it was the same gun at first.
The Winchester-manufactured Garand now tucked away in the den of his home is the same weapon he carried while still in his early 20s, a world away from home, marching through areas such as the Punchbowl, a nickname for a region of the Korean mountains, and The Iron Triangle, a battlefield area that served as the headquarters for the North Korean Army.
I told him my son (Jonathan) and I had been looking for one of those rifles," Jim Richardson continued. "He jokingly said, 'If you ever find one with the serial number 16-22-26-1, I'll give you a $1,000.'"
"What shocked me the most is how very heavy it is," he said. "I have trouble now holding it up and aiming it. I guess they were made for 20- and 21-year-olds."
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I took my Dad out on Saturday to shoot his M1 from the Korean War for the first time since 1953. He was on the edge of the bulls eye on the first shot. Both my Dad and the rifle lived up to my expectations. There were many family and Veterans there to watch him. It was a great joy to watch the smile on my Dad's face!
