16-078 Garand Picture of The Day

[Mark in Rochester]

Information

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[25-5]

First pic looks like he's picking something in anticipation of "M1 thumb".
Second pic sure looks like Elvis in the center.

[Bob Seijas]

We used that photo in the Spring 2015 GCA Journal along with this description:

In 1958 at the height of his career and during the filming of the movie “King Creole,” he was drafted. He didn't pull any strings, he just went. When the Army wanted to assign him to Special Services, he refused. His famous greaser haircut was cut to Army stubble, he took Basic Training like everybody else, eventually went to Germany and the 3rd Armored Division. Colin Powell, then an Infantry Platoon Leader ran into him there:
“When I met him, he was out in the field just as dirty and tired as the rest of us from doing his job. We were in this wooded area north of Frankfurt and I was driving along in my Jeep and there he was. When I got out and walked over to him he saluted and was very proper. What struck me was that he looked just like any other GI. He was shorter than I expected and other than the fact that he was really Elvis Presley, he acted like just another soldier, in the woods, doing a job."
“At that time in the late Fifties there was a cold war, there was an iron curtain, and there was a Soviet army stacked up on the other side… those were serious times. Back in those days we had conscription, and when his name came up, this country boy took off his blue suede shoes and whatever else he was wearing and put on Army green.”

[fboyj]

The first pic is Elvis too and the older gentleman to his right is his father

[Bill Hollinger]

In that forest

[SA M1Dom]

I don't suppose anyone is familiar with the serial number on that weapon??