27 Feb 2023 Garand Picture of the Day

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Battle of Parry Island
Parry island was smaller than Eniwetok and more heavily defended and was the HQ of 1st Amphibious Brigade commander General Nishida. When the invasion began the Japanese had 1,115 troops and 250 other personnel on Parry, equipped with 36 heavy grenade launchers, 36 light machine guns, six heavy machine guns, ten 81mm mortars, three 20mm automatic guns, two mountain guns, one 20mm cannon and three Type 95 light tanks. The island is tear-drop shaped with the larger end to the north, facing the lagoon. The Japanese defences consisted of a series of eight strong points along the beach, protected by trenches and a network of foxholes.

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Private Theodore James Miller; an exhausted US Marine exhibiting the thousand-yard stare after two days of constant fighting on Eniwetok. He was later killed in action, at age 19, on 24 March 1944, at Ebon Atoll. He is buried at the Punchbowl, HI.

Miller himself was killed in action during the invasion of Ebon Atoll a month later. 25 Japanese, including six civilians (two women and two children among them), put up a 20-minute fire-fight that left Miller and another Marine, Cpl John C NELSON dead and eight others wounded.

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19 y/o hardly begun to live and experience life, just to be snuffed out by evil pure and simple, I am always cognisant of the men & women who gave everything to make this world a better place.

Interesting fighting knife hanging from belt of Marine on the left in last picture !
Anybody have more to add on this?

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Originally Posted by RAM1ALASKA

Interesting fighting knife hanging from belt of Marine on the left in last picture !
Anybody have more to add on this?

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Would be the Marine Raider stiletto. They were very similar to the Fairburn Sykes but had a sintered aluminum handle that eventually starts to disintegrate with age. Most examples I see currently show some flaking.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

Would be the Marine Raider stiletto. They were very similar to the Fairburn Sykes but had a sintered aluminum handle that eventually starts to disintegrate with age. Most examples I see currently show some flaking.

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A good chronology on these knives including the Mairine raider version on USMF
Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knives. - EDGED WEAPONS - U.S. Militaria Forum

A very desirable knife and hard to find...very expensive.

They may have been in England at one point and swapped with the Special Air Service chaps who knows.
Jim is correct the F/S knives are much sought after & not cheap I can vouch for that.
I sent detailed pics to Roy Shadbolt of mine, it's a 3rd pattern late or post war F/S that was exported hence the England stamping Roy is considered an expert collector and dealer in the F/S knife world.
I also have 1st Ed of Fairbairns All In Fighting where he shows how and where to disable the enemy with the F/S knife, expected time till they expire obviously the throat and heart are pretty much instantaneous.
The other book I have of his is 1st Ed Get Tough.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

They may have been in England at one point and swapped with the Special Air Service chaps who knows.

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No, they are a different knife. The pommel tells the difference. They have a checkering pattern that runs up the handle and leaves ridges on both outsides. Completely different. The FS has a turned handle that is slipped onto the tang and held with a nut. The Raider stiletto has a cast handle that has no way to remove it. Here they are compared. I'll bet a raider knife is twice the value of a FS also.