Guys, I think you are really going to enjoy this.

A friend of mine gave me this M44, and with it, quite a story. First, the rifle. Here are pics of it.

My friend served in the U.S. Navy and when I pressed him for more details about the rifle, after he tantalized me by telling me he received it as a recognition of his service in Vietnam, here are the details about how he obtained this M44 in Vietnam.

How did a Russianicon rifle find its way to China and then to a lone VC in Quang Tri province in the RVN in 1966? You asked about the story behind it, so let me fill in some details. I was an advisor to Coastal Group 11. I was assigned to USNAVFORV under MACV which was commanded by General William Westmoreland. The coastal patrol groups were a quasi-military group associated with the RVN navy. Our base was located just south of the DMZ on the Quang Tri river at a spot called Cua Viet. I and another officer or a couple of senior enlisted men were assigned to advise this group of about 85 Vietnamese irregulars. We would spend a month at the base and then return to Danang for a couple of days to have a shower, eat some American food, and get our laundry done. At the time we were the only Americans within hundreds of square miles. Our job was to patrol the coastal waters and intercept shipments from North Vietnam to local VC units. We used 32’ wooden patrol boats developed by the US. They had a GM diesel engine for propulsion and a top speed of about 8 knots. They were called Yabutas and were painted gray with the requisite eyes on the bow. I began my tour in June 1965 and left in July 1966. You have to realize that the Republic of South Vietnam started from ground zero and had no navy to speak of, so our base commander was an old army officer. He hated going on coastal patrol. He was much happier patrolling through the local villages, patrolling the river up to Quang Tri and back, and setting ambushes. One of the ambushes resulted in the death of the VC whose rifle I now have. At the end of my tour, since I was the first American that had stayed with them for the entire time he was in country, the base CO gave me the rifle as a going-away gift. It fires a round a little larger than the 7.62 mm stuff the Americans were using at the time. However, it would fire a standard 7.62 mm round whereas the American weapons could not fire the rounds developed for this weapon which was a decided advantage for the VC and NVA. I used to have all sorts of documentation that allowed me to bring it back to the United Statesicon, but I’ll have to hunt to find it. Thanks for the identification. I’ve always wondered what it was. By the way there is a date stamped on it of 1960. I couldn’t get it to show up in the pictures.

John


Then he added, oh, by the way, I always carried an M2 Carbine when in country. I loved that rifle.
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