M1 Rifle in use in Vietnam - Photo

[Seaforth72]

The left hand man appears to be carrying an M1 Garand rifle. This picture makes it obvious why the Vietnamese would prefer an M1 Carbine or M16.

This photo was among a batch that were left behind in a house in Canada, some years after the Vietnam War had ended. I suspect they had been left behind by either a Canadian who had joined the U.S. military to serve in Vietnam (reportedly over 10,000 Canadians did so and not all came home, including the son of a friend of ours) or possibly by an American veteran or even a South Vietnamese veteran who had come to Canada. Scans of these images are at http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/vietnam_war.htm Only one shows an M1 Garand. Photographer unknown. Collection of Colin M. Stevens, Richmond, B.C. Canada.

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[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Way too beaucoup.

[Bob Seijas]

The Summer GCA Journal will have a photo of a South Vietnamese Ranger with a Garand in combat. We also did an article on a raid by a US LRRP team that hit a Cong house and recaptured an H&R M1 among the weapons. More recently, we had a great article on "The Last POW," a feature on two M1s in the museum in Hanoi. The point is that there were a lot of M1s in Nam, and most were left there.

[SRiverrat11]

The history channels show, "Vietnam in HD" shows a US soldier carrying a garand in one of the early scenes.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

The history channels show, "Vietnam in HD" shows a US soldier carrying a garand in one of the early scenes.

I saw that a few days ago. Replayed it several times. It sure looked like a GI to me.

[Rick Cummelin]

The point is that there were a lot of M1s in Nam, and most were left there.

Yep, the US provided tons of "support" to South Vietnam, including lots & lots of small arms.

I'm sure you remember Bob, that a bunch of the CMP M1Ds had been rebuilt at Tooele Depot in Utah and had tags inside the box(es) indicating that the rifles were destined to be shipped to SEA (South East Asia, a.k.a. Vietnam). Thank goodness they didn't ship them over there.

Can't forget that in the early days of the "unreliable" M16, lots of GIs preferred the M14, the M1 Garand or even the Thompson to an M16.

[Calif-Steve]

Our RF/PF troops(this was 1971) had Garands and Carbines. They hated the Garand, it was way to big, heavy, bulky and hard to control for a small Viet Namese man. Never mind the women. We even had a few BAR's, believe it or not. No one wanted to fight, both sides, mind you. I saw a single M1903 and piles of K98k's all over the place. I might add, all of the Garands I personally saw and handled were IHC rifles. One final note: we never had combat packed ammo. All .30 cal came in those little brown cardboard boxes, 8 round clips were quite scarce.

[Bob Seijas]

And thanks for your service, you Nam guys never got the respect and gratitude you deserved. The Peace and Love generation ruined the country, but you bore the brunt of their stupidity.

Lots of HRAs in Nam, too.

[RudyN]

I have a friend of mine that was there very early with the MAAG Group. He said that he carried a M1 all the time he was in VN.

[armabill]

I was there in 1965 (Recon USMC) and carried the M14. Never saw an M16 until I got out, but I heard about them.