"combat"

I know most of you have heard of the 1960's tv series "combat". well it isn't
"saving prvt ryan" or "band of brothers" it's a good show when it comes to all
the M1 garands you get to see all over the screen. yes thompsons,carbines,
1911's are all there too and we gotta love that. I got the complete series on amazon(40 dvd's) best price to buy all at once. I'm not a salesman but its fun to share something that most garand collectors would love and maybe as a
kid watching it made it so natural to collect m1's 40 years later?

Don't forget Caje and his BAR. "Combat" was one of my favorite shows from the 60s.. I liked "The Outer Limits" too.

40 DVDs are going to keep you glued to the TV for quite a while, Dave. :-0

I love Combat. I got hooked on it back in the mid-80s when it was shown on a local tv station as a filler show late at night. The weapons are great except the carbines have the upgraded sights and bayo lugs. Sgt. Saunders used a 1911A1 with a stainless barrel to move German POWs across a river one time. Other than that, the special effects in the battle scenes are really great, especially considering the technology at that time. The acting and the music are really the parts that got me hooked. I bought all the DVDs when they came out. My youngest son and I have watched all of them at least three times. Amazingly, we discovered about four years ago that Kirby, aka Jack Hogan, aka Roland Benson, was a first cousin of one of the members of our church. He arranged a visit with Kirby in Chapel Hill. We spent the day listening to stories of Lee Marvin, Mickey Rooney, Vic Morrow, Dick Peabody, "Doc", Rick Jason, and all the rest. Kirby told us the cast members had to spend time on a U.S. Army bass learning squad combat basics before actually filming the show. Their helmets were made of plastic after filming the pilot show. He said they were too heavy to wear 12 hours a day four of five days a week when filming a single episode. Caje was quite the athlete and he had an incredible trigger finger. Watch how fast he can shoot that M1. Kirby was a good athlete too. He is a generous and intelligent man. He is over 80 years old and his mind is as agile as anyone I have ever known. He is very private but he opened up for us that one day and it was wonderful.
Thanks for posting. It brought back great memories. Here is a website that I found interesting. Combat TV Series Careful: if you purchase the DVD set you will be hooked.

And not one "Piiiing!" Ever!

According to "Kirby", the sounds were really loud on the set. Probably didn't have sensitive enough equipment to record the sound of the ejecting clip. They do pop out from time to time. I really like how well Sgt. Saunders can clear a foxhole of Germans from any distance with a hand grenade and an amazing throwing arm. In one show, a German came in a room firing a Thompson. I guess in an imperfect world.....
The show, in all earnestness, was a well-written and well-acted show. I just read an interview of Vic Morrow and he explained how the entire cast and crew worked hard to be the best they could be, even with limited budgets, sets, etc.

1967 - Garrison's Gorillas - The Magnificent Forger- Pt. 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kz5Tc_EwVs

In some of the books I have read about WW2 Europe it was not uncommon for either side to use battlefield pickups from the opposing side. This included tanks,jeeps and trucks.

...them "Combat" germans were quite adept at picking up USGI Korean war tanks , trucks , and weapon carriers.:super:

And don't forget that every squad had a guy with the German semi-auto rifle.:rofl: I love seeing it shoot.

Love that show , I think it and "Rat Patrol" were the primer for my continuing intrests today. If my wife knew how much money I've tied up ( errrr..invested) because of these guys , she'd prob'ly kick 'em in the shins!!!
Chris

Rat Patrol, ah.... Hans Dietrich AKA Victor Newman AKA Hans Jörg Gudegast AKA Eric Braeden.

Ahhh... Gruppenfuhrer Dietrich!

I loved "COMBAT" back in the 1960s and watched every episode.
I had a toy Thompson I received as a Christmas gift and then I raided Dads footlocker in the utility room. I was the best dressed kid on the block when we fought the krauts or japs. I had a real USMC helmet and cover, pistol belt, gas mask bag, canteen and a musette bag. I always put them away before I was caught. My dad eventully caught me but did give them to me but always said to "take care of them" and "put them back where I found them". I wanted to be Sgt. Saunders when I grew up.
The time I grew up in and my dad serving in WWII and Korea and teaching me to shoot, respect firarms and to be proud to be an American were the stepping stones that influenced me to enlist and my lifelong interest in militaria and firearms.

I went thru the Garand collecting now it's M14s ( M1As) and ARs. The Holy Grail to me is a BAR or a Thompson SMG. I have shot both full auto as a club member has them and other FA weapons.

I love the Tommy gun BUT I found I liked the BAR a bit more. Too bad I'll never have the money to own either.

Vic Morrow and the others from the show that are gone............

RIP !

thankx for all the great replies, I enjoyed all the comments. ? I have
seen BAR's at shows (semi only) and I know they r replicas but look cool.
can you get a BAR (shooter/replica) or are they as rare as I think? any
info would be appreciated.

BARs and Thompsons are available in semi form. The Tommys with the short barrel ( you need a special tax stamp like a full auto one).
Ohio Ordinance use to make the BARs from USGI parts except the receiver. They go for about $2500.00 last I saw. The SBR Tommys are about $1300.00 a few years ago plus the $200 tax stamp for the short barrel. Looks like Sgt. Saunders gun with the Cutts comp or get one with just the front sight like Captain Miller in Pvt.Ryan.

Hey, but Victor and Jack are in Brazil on a mission! He He He

Okay, sorry, Combat, one of the best shows that I can remember growing up as a kid.

Bars---3,500 with plastic stock....3,800 with wood buttstock

Bar semi kits to complete your parts kit...2,000.

Top notch guns from a top notch company. They are about a year behind on backorders.


Thompsons are avail. from Khar Arms. Quality not so good , but can be made to work. Do your research and you can pick the ones that WILL have problems out and don't buy them. When tuned and fixed they run as good as any out there.

Chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tom Doniphon

Don't forget Caje and his BAR. "Combat" was one of my favorite shows from the 60s.. I liked "The Outer Limits" too.

40 DVDs are going to keep you glued to the TV for quite a while, Dave. :-0

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That was Kirby and his BAR. Cage was left handed and had an M1

Caje was also an olympic skier for France. Saunders (Vic Morrow) had a wooden Thompson made because he felt the real one was too heavy. Billy was shown in several episodes after he was killed off. And Rick Jason (Hanley) never put his carbine to his shoulder. He always fired from the hip.

Alot of footage was captured German footage and alot of battle scenes were recycled over and over.

One more note in the first season Shecky Green wore USMC camo pants.

One last note Ted Knight was actually a pretty decent actor before Ted Baxter if his several Combat appearences were any indication.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TDH

That was Kirby and his BAR. Cage was left handed and had an M1

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I stand corrected. Thank you TDH.

can anyone tell me about the shovels that they have on their back. t-handles and no folding. i have a folding 1943 entrenching tool. are theirs pre 1943?
I know someone is going to tell me they are made of balso wood or peanut brittle so during filming they could eat it if the got hungry. just kidding. all the stories have been fun to hear.

“Combat” came on ABC and my area only had CBS and NBC affiliates. However, thanks to such sparse programming in the ‘60’s our local station carried the series as a filler when I was in eighth grade. Really enjoyed it.
My Junior High and Senior High phys. ed. coach auditioned and, the story was, almost landed the Rick Jason role of Lt. Hanley. He later did do some local TV work but never hit the big time.
When my son was little (he’s now 28) in the ‘80’s, reruns of “Combat” were aired. When the opening credits and theme song came on he would call out to me, “Daddy, the marching guns are on”, and he and I would sit and enjoy the action. I had begun seriously pursuing the M1 Garand when my son was three so he recognized that firearm.

DaveN,

They are Tool, Entrenching, Model of 1910.

I just found a set of "Combat" DVDs last year and it sure did take me back to my early teen years in the '60s. And, like my brother used to say, they faced the "deaf, dumb and blind" German brigade!

hey wiz,
is tool, entrenching 1910 correct for combat (the real thing---42-45) or is this another incorrect item that makes us so smart to notice.
also can anyone tell me the truth about how vic was killed in filming and
who else if any. i recll vic and someone else and a helicopter was involved.
i don't know the date but i seem to remember seeing it on the news when it happened.

DaveN,
The short answer is yes it is correct for World War 2. In fact I think they were produced until 1942. You have to remember there was a large stock pile of equipment left over from World War 1. The end of the war in November of 1918 took planners by surprise. A BIG allied offensive was being planned for spring 1919 and equipmenmt was being made to support it.

I am sure if you Google Vic Morrow (just last night I saw a younger Vic Morrow play a totally different soldier in "Men At War") you can find out the story of him death..

Vic was performing in a scene with a helicopter and pyrotechnics. The chopper was directed do too close to the ground and into the path of an explosive effect. When the explosive was fired, the chopper was "shot down." It landed on Vic and two children he was carrying and killed all three. More HERE .

Bob

I was With 1st Cav Airmobile in 1965-66, when we were in from the field they would show us reruns of the series "Combat". Our standing joke was " we'll find out what we did wrong today.
Greg
by the way, I went over with a full auto Winchester M14 issued to me right out of the shipping crate in the States.

I'm In the third season and out of all the episodes I can honestly say I only remember a few.
I'm sure I truly only watched 10 or 12 when I was 10 yrs old. That's good cause it's all good.
I also may have seen the ones at the end of the series. Time will tell. Does anyone think they will bring it back, what I mean , like for instance "Hawaii 5 O" you know new actors and modern film tech, not reruns?

I've got the whole series, also. Haven't watched it all, but I do recall catching Rick Jason walk out of a room with an early carbine (no bayo-lug), and then he comes into the next room with a carbine with the bayo-lug! Great show!

Wait till you see the episode when he's trapped in a farm house and the German patrol goes by. At the front door his carbine isn't there and a second later it's leaning against the wall but he hasn't moved. Full scene ,quick head shot, full scene again. Rifle,no rifle or no rifle, rifle I'm not sure which but one of several bloopers of which on the DVD they point out if they catch them.

Hills are for Heroes in one scene Hanley has a field pack on and the very next minute he steps into a bunker and no field pack. Still, those bloopers never have bothered me. They did a lt with a little with that series, according to what I was told by Jack Hogan. They had five days or less to film an episode from start to finish. They had a low budget in which Jason and Morrow got the most. If they were running low on budger for series, they would write out one of the characters such as Cage or Kirby. The special effects were really good for that time and required live action and live controlled explosions. Who cares if Sarge can throw a grenade better than any Major League Pitcher and kill more Germans with a single chop to the side of the neck than any Stegal character. The acting was really great.
When Jack Hogan, who's real name is Roland Benson, told me and my son about filming Hills are for Heroes, he claimed that as his personal favorite. He explained to us that when doing the scene where he was called down off the hill his squad had fought and died for, he improvised a line that was very poignant. He had a dramatic response as he motioned to a dead G.I. and said.."....what about him.......I don't even know his name.....he can't come down..." I always had loved that scene and when Roland told us about it, he actually had tears in his eyes. He loved that show and was amazingly willing to talk to us for several hours about the cast and guest stars.
I am sorry to run on about it but I have always admired the acting and story lines on the show. I am 60 and instantly I go back to my childhood and happy times of my life as a young boy.

Just edited a terrific article by Marty Black for the GCA Journal ... he went hunting with a metal detector where the TV series was filmed. Lots of great stuff found! Also a very good discussion of the specially-made blanks they used. A really interesting article.

I am probably missing it, but please give a web address so I can go to that article by Marty Black? I couldn't find it at the Garand Collectors Association site. Thanks.

Thanks to bentonville and all who gave me so much more on the inner workings of the show COMBAT I have truly enjoyed everyone's comments. And I was in no way putting down the show because of a few bloopers. This series has got to go down as my favorite.

DaveN, I enjoy sharing about Combat. We couldn't pick up CBS when I was a boy. There were only two stations. I would go over to a friend's house on some evenings and watch it. Then in the late 1980's I was able to pick up reruns on rabbit ears. My wife got hooked and started noticing how great the music was. The composer was a classical style composer who wrote the music before the show was even filmed, iirc. The main theme is based on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" from the Civil War era. Sometimes he use the German National Anthem, written by Haydn, in appropriate dramatic spots. There are other ideas he uses that I can't remember at this moment. There is music for Germans marching, G.I.s marching, suspense..etc. It's great. The editors would then use whatever segments of music they required for a particular scene.
I was sharing a moral from Sgt. Saunders one day in a sharing session at Church. After it was over, an older man whom I had known for years said it was interesting that I would be watching Combat. His first cousin is Kirby aka JacK Hogan, really Roland Benson. My ten-year-old son and I went wild. We begged him to arrange a meeting which he did. I had just purchased the DVD sets and we had watched every episode at least once. My son loves the show as much or more than I do. Roland was most gracious. He was living in Chapel Hill, NC where he grew up. He has since moved to be with his family. We spent several hours with him, asking questions about the show. The helmets were specially made out of plastic so they could wear them for hours at the time without problems. He said that Vic was a master actor. He would always blend in with the props around him. He studied folks that had severe burns for a few days before starting the filming of the episode where he was burned. He had to find his way home with arms and hands burned so badly that he couldn't use them. He said that Dick Peabody was very funny, a former radio announcer. He talked about how in one episode the Lt. was on the radio and got off and gave an order to Little John except he called him Peabody. We had watched the show but hadn't noticed it. It may be explained in one of the bloopers on the DVD set. He told us that when Lee Marvin guest-starred on the show, he was so cool and an experienced G.I. that all the cast wanted to act like him and wear their helmets like him. Marvin had a rubber inner-tube around his helmet and Kirby, Cage, Little John all wanted to get theirs fixed like his.
He said they would always go to a certain bar after filming and get drunk quite often. Peabody was really funny then. Mickey Rooney would talk your ears off. He never shut up. Cage was quite an athlete. He is also an artist. Roland had a carving that Pierre had given him fairly recently to the time we visited. It was beautiful. He said that there was always a little friction between the two leading actors. Lt. Hanley was the initial star but Vic began to grow in popularity and he had to finally demand more money. It was some paultry sum compared to today's prices. They had five days to get the filming done, including learning the script, blocking out the scenes, etc. The special effects guy was a genius. They did hundreds of bullet explosions and grenades etc. with never an injury on the set. The guys were sent to a former WW2 army camp and received a few days of training on how a squad would march, attack, etc. and that was really all the training they received, according to Roland Benson. Most of the filming was done on back lots or in a northern Cal. winery. They would remodel the town using styrofoam etc. Cage would always outrun all of them when doing an action scene. They had to really work to keep up. He could fire his M1 faster than anyone else in the world, Roland said. Roland took us out to eat Mexican food, talked about God, took us to see where he did some theater work at UNC, took us to meet another cousin and talked about growing up. It was amazing. This guy is so very intelligent. He was the casting director of Magnum P.I. and also was in some of the episodes. He allowed my son to have a couple of photos made with him as he harvested a huge tomatoe from his garden. He then explained that he never told anyone in Chapel Hill about his role in Combat and really valued his privacy. We wrote to him later but he would never return the favor. It was a one time deal and we are so very happy he allowed us into his life for that day. His eyes were just as they were in the show, vibrant and full of life. His acting is very good. We pay close attention to him now as we watch the shows for the fifth or sixth time. Well, I got all that out. Sorry about the run on but I enjoyed it. I know there are a lot more details of our day with Roland Benson but I will rely on my son for those.

My Mom always watched Combat with me so she could translate what the Germans were saying(she still spoke pretty good German then), it was fun.

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Originally Posted by bentonville

I am probably missing it, but please give a web address so I can go to that article by Marty Black? I couldn't find it at the Garand Collectors Association site. Thanks.

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That's because it hasn't been published yet :) It's slated to appear in the Fall issue that goes out in late August or early September. We work on the articles well in advance at this end, at least three months before the publisher's deadlines. I'm always paranoid about running short and having to scramble for material at the last minute.

each episode of Combat has a bloopers and oddities section. I've looked for some of the bloopers and can't find them others are qwuite obvious
Kirby was a gold brick the guy that always shirked work and extra duty as well as responsibility. I still love Hill's are for Hero's bit I also love the episode where Kirby finds himself in charge of an expanded squad during a major german push. (Nothing to Lose) It's on the next disc after "Hills"
The last season was cut short because of the increased salaries of the 2 "STARS", they are rarely seen in the same episode, and the switch to color film which was 3 times as expensive.

I'm enjoying it now. Watched the 1st and 3rd seasons and just finished the 1st half of the second. Big difference between what I see now and what I saw as a kid in the '60s. Well done for both age groups.

( BTW , just for fun , in the carrier pigeon episode , when the squad dismounts from the truck , how many noticed the paper drink cup in the bed ? Musta been a hot day .)
Chris

As I recall the real GOLD BRICKwas a private,can't remember his cast name but credits had him as Sheky Greene. I tried my DVD player and got to get one of my technicians (sons) to find out why no go. Any way he was only on part of 1st season, kind of reminded me of Costello from Abbot and Costello. He always wore a pair of marine camo pants like the pattern on sgt Saunders helmet. I don't know if Kirby replaced him and took up the gold brick duties or what?

Do you ever wonder how they did all those heroic acts and never got promoted or a medal or anything like that. I guess it is from June 44 to sometime in 45 as I'm only in season 3 disk 4 now.

Bob, the exteriors for the show were shot in many locations. And other films and TV shows were shot at those same locations. I even remember as a kid going to MGM Studios to watch part of an episode being filmed outdoors.

Can you give us a clue as to where he did his metal detecting?

When I was in the eighth grade ('64-'65 ) Combat was the 1st topic discussed in my science class. Our teacher, Stowe Harbin, understood German and always filled us in on what the enemy had said in the previous nights' episode. That was when there weren't 200+ channels and everyone watched the same thing. Boy we've sure come a long way since then.:rolleyes:
I recently purchased the series collection and now have something to do when my wife runs me out of the living room!

Loved Combat; haven't seen but a handful of episodes... on the flip side I watched some old Rat Patrols recently on Netflix - loved them as a kid. Boy are they pharty now. In one scene one of the poor slobs sitting on the spare tire and holding onto a 50 darn near came out of the jeep when they jumped a dune. He swung out over the side, scrambled, finally made it back into his sitting posture! I was like - Egads I think I would have edited that scene a mite!

One redeeming episode had a nazi nurse who was a real fem fatale and very easy on the old eyes tho'. But I just couldn't make it past the mocked up German vehicles and stereotypical cheese, so I quit watching for now..

What amazed me about combat was the cameo appearances of so many actors that became top stars. Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Tele Savalis , Beau Bridges(he was just a kid playing a 15 year old in one of the episodes). I'm sure I've left alot more out but you get the idea.

Eddie Albert (green acres)

Combat, Twelve O'Clock High, Rat Patrol.....I want one of those .50 cal that can blow up a German tank.

B-17 now that's a mil surp!?

I get my daily dose of Combat on Comcast Cable, ME-TV or ME-TOO channels. It's on at 2 AM so I DVR them for the next day. I've had the complete set on DVD since they came out but just easier to hit the play button.

Combat ran for what...4-5 years...and they NEVER got out of France!!!

Did you ever notice that 'Wagon Train' never got to where they were heading for either. ;)

That's what happens in FICTION TV.

FICTION!!! Come on when a guy like sgt Saunders gets wounded 37 times and saves countless fellow GIs and in his five year(as you say)march across France and Germany and doesn't get even one purple heart or even a promotion. You gotta love hollywood?

Can anyone name who DID get promoted ?
Chris

But we still all watched them.

Lt. Hanley was a six-stripe sgt. in the pilot episode "A Day in June" . Nobody else changed rank.

Hanley and Saunders both carried Garands in the pilot episode. Saunders adjusted the rear sights of his Garand off somewhere in the sky when firing a rifle grenade.

Later in the series they made up for it with a very well done scene of Kirby firing a rifle grenade with his Garand---way before he became the BAR man.

Caje could empty a clip left-handed, switch to righty to reload, and then blow through the second clip in record time.

Overall, it was a GREAT show. Any fan should get the complete series boxed DVD set.

Correct , he was the only one .
Chris

We all enjoyed watching "Combat" but what was wrong with Kirby's BAR ?

Which one ? He appears to have used several. There is the light dummy one ( I've heard there was a rosin one and a wooden one ) as well as shoot'n ones. One has a too short flashhidder . His bipod changes from an early WW2 one to a late/ post WW2 one. I would swear that his forearm wood goes higher / lower too , but I could be wrong there. I've had the set for 2+ years now , but I'm only up to the 4th season , so I'm not watching much faster than when it was done in the sixties.
Chris

Kirby's BAR has the carrying handle. Some collectors state WW2 BAR's never used the carrying handle while others claim it was issued towards the end of WW2. Difficult to find any original WW2 photos of the BAR with a carrying handle. By Korea they were installed.

The only thing I "of very little BAR knowledge" noticed and could be wrong , is the barrel at the muzzle looks way smaller then a 30 cal. or the setup for blanks. I know before I checked the bloopers the machine gun nest they wiped out in one early episode had belted blank ammo. I do know they were on a tight budget.

Kirby's BAR should not have had the carrying handle (if your going to be accurate for the 1944 time period) But we still enjoy all the episodes anyway.

Can anyone tell me wfere to get the boxed DVD set? Thanks
Tom

Just google 'Combat DVD' and there's a lot that com up -

Top two -
http://www.memorylanedvd.com/product...roductid=38360

Amazon.com: Combat - The Complete Series: Vic Morrow, Rick Jason, Pierre Jalbert, Jack Hogan, Dick Peabody, Conlan Carter: Movies TV

I bought the first season when I saw it at Sams. Can you say impulse buy. Then got hooked and wanted the next so I went to amazon.com and figured it would and was cheaper to just get the whole thing and get it over with. I just started season 4 and only watch 2-3 back to back about once a month. I slowed down cause I don't want it to end.
The real reason is if I stretch it out I can start over cause I will have forgotten what I have already watched.

Combat was a great show and I rarely missed it. It didn't have the quality of todays shows but still well done. Also enjoyed Rat Patrol and always wanted a jeep with a .50.