The mention about not being familiar with a bolt-action rifle is from the book, Odyssey of a Philippine Scout by Arthur Kendall Whitehead who was an officer in the 26th Cavalry PS. Most of the book is about his escape to Australiaicon though.

We can't generalize though. It may have been a more specific situation to the Philippines. It is more likely to happen to infantrymen/cavalrymen rather than pilots. The US Army's Philippine Division recruits went to boot camp in the Philippines and in 1941, the infantry and the cavalry already had garands, so that's probably what the newest recruits trained on. I've talked to one Bataan veteran who said he preferred the garand over the 1903 because it didn't kick back as much.

I can remember a lot of mentions about the garand in the book Bataan, Our Last Ditch by John W. Whitman. Otherwise here are some I have on the shelf. You can't make out all the titles but basically there are a lot out there and if you'd know what you've read or haven't. I'm probably not even a third through my reading list.

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As for the movie, I did get my DVD copy from ebay (just a home copied one). It's usually listed for $12. Just keep an eye out for it. Cheers.