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'worried about whether THEIR gun was all original and correct or not'
Any carbine while in service or in government custody was of course always 'correct' although as the years went by and updated parts were installed very few remained 'original'. In other words, a 'white bag' rebuild would be correct while obviously not original.
England lost India, the Dutch lost Indonesia and the French, Vietnam (by 1954). Huge reversals for those countries started by the Japanese proving that their masters were paper tigers.
Jim: I went over at 192lbs 6'2" 32" waist 44" chest, left VN at 178lbs 32" waist, 40"chest, when there is no fat, the body eats muscle. I don't recall any fun in it at all before or after. A filthy camping trip with guns. Did anybody ever eat the canned white bread? or Plastic Cheese? or that horrible fruit cake? I liked Beans and ham, boned chicken, steak and potato, turkey loaf was ok because I like pepper, eggs and anything was awful, these were the most expensive meals in the Army $1.35 each. The cookies were great and peanut butter and crackers. Those Cs would stop you up like a cork by the primaquine cloroquine fixed that problem.
Oh, the memories. Forgot about the canned white bread.Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveHH
Dave HH: Lima Beans & Ham :eek: Never could stomach that one in Korea or RVN. I did enjoy the Bar, Chocolate, Type VII, Style II though. Later in the war, which you missed out on (I know you're sad about that ;) you would have had LRRP rations. My motto was, "I'll shoot anybody you want for a Beef Hash LRRP.
C rations........anyone want to trade for a can of fruit cake? I liked it, seriously.
I would get lots of cigarettes in trade for the elusive pound cake! I would smoke any brand that came in the C-Rats. I wasn't picky wanting "C ools" or "Marlboros" Was that cheese in those flat cans? I always wondered what it was! The peanut butter was edible, but I love peanut butter. I agree on the beans in ham, I liked that also.
PS, After the active Army, I was in the Air National Guard in the late 70s early 90s, and sampled the first generation MREs. They made C Rats look good!
There are a lot of my family members that belong to the greatest generation. On my mothers side there were three, one fought in the Aleutian Islands and was later wounded in the Philipines a second who was a tail gunner on a B-17 and the third was a ''Toccoa Man'' with the 101st Airborne. Plus the youngest who died in Korea. I have no idea how many on my fathers side. Not many talked about it. A couple did, one with Patton's third army and another was a machine gunner with the 29th infantry, he went ashore in the first wave on D-DAY. A third was with the 99th in the pacific. He don't talk much. I have thought about the original vs correct topic a lot from time to time and always came up with the same conclusion, if they're original leave them alone. Ilook at them and think: there is the slimmest of chances this may be the very carbine Uncle Wilber carried in Europe. Can't prove it was'nt.
Your definition of correct is showing original parts, not a time period. It goes to show how thinking had changed. Example: Circled A marked bayonet lug, made in 1969 would not be correct for WWII, or a Korean War Rebuild. It would be correct for a late issue in Vietnam.Quote:
Any carbine while in service or in government custody was of course always 'correct' although as the years went by and updated parts were installed very few remained 'original'. In other words, a 'white bag' rebuild would be correct while obviously not original.
As stated I saw Khaki slings from WWII on M14's in basic training in 1964. We also ate Korean War C Rations. In Vietnam we were initially issued Black (early) Mark II Hand Grenades, some which smoked during delay. If I recall they were dated 1942. The later ones were quiet and smokeless fuzes. The M26 Grenades came later.Quote:
I remember those rations, we lived on them too 1968,69,70.
The carbine was unique because slings and oilers were not already in the system, so the manufacturers had to provide them with some of their contracts. Thus mostly all of the issued carbine matched the sling and oiler.
However the rest of the items like pouches and cleaning rods were not related to the manufacturer and you would be issued whatever existed in supply at the time of issue.
Interesting thought about "It might be Uncle Wilbur's carbine." About three years ago I got an Inland transitional 12-44 carbine with type 2 rear sight and type 2 barrel band. My dad carried an Inland on Iwo Jima in February 1945. According to him he had a "new one" withe the adjustable rear sight. It made me wonder if just maybe... I actually tried to get his service records to see if there was any info in it. Unfortunately, the records center in St Louis had a fire that destroyed most of the enlisted records from WW2.
I would have kept it, but it was totally shot out 6-12 inches at 25 yards is not a shooter! I can only afford to have one carbine, so I got a shooter.