M1 Carbine made by Inland Division. The serial number is XC 43

[Seaspriter]

The USS Monrovial APA 31 (attack transport) Dec 1 1942 - Oct 31 1968,

Jim, you obviously did your homework. She was an old war horse by the summer of 1967 -- the oldest active ship in the Navy. She was rusty and worn. I was training as a US Navy 2nd class Midshipman out of Little Creek Virginia -- Marine boot camp. We were housed in German POW barracks during that summer. Then the Marines put us on the Monrovia. I will never forget going down to our bunks! They were lined 5 levels high -- 18 inches between racks: metal pipe racks with canvas stretched between the pipes. Over the last millennia the canvas had stretched so badly that when you had to clamour into your rack, the guy's arse in the bunk above sagged into the next lower rack, giving you about a 8-9 inch slot to squeeze through. It was almost impossible to wedge yourself in. I remember a few heavy-weight middies who took forever to wedge themselves in -- usually the guy above have to reorient himself to help create space. The view looking above at the next rack was memorable to this day.

In the morning we got on our battle gear -- helmets and M-1s (no carbines), climbed down the netting into bouncing LCVPs (just like the Normandy invasion pictures), and circled the Monrovia until the mock invasion started. We landed on a beachhead somewhere in Virginia (near Dam Neck I recall), stormed up the sand dunes, and encountered enemy fire (all safe to ensure no one got killed). We all were screaming gung-ho, and playing John Wayne (remember we were still just kids then).

Then we bivouacked inland. This is where we then had to field strip our weapons, blindfolded. The M-1s and Colt 1911s were stripped down, cleaned of sand, and put back together. I'm a pretty mechanical guy, so I never had much problem with the blindfolded exercise, but some of my college buddies who were not engineering majors had problems with this big-time.

Upon reflection -- I really wish I was on the Monrovia for the Sicilian invasion -- but could only live my time with Patton vicariously. When the movie: Patton was on TCM last week, I somehow felt a kinship to this hero.