2 Dec 2022 M14 Picture of the Day

[Mark in Rochester]

These 4 buddies loved to surf, and 50 years ago before the war, we see them posing at the beach after they’d first met in boot camp. 50 years later, they all miraculously not only survived the Vietnam War, but found each other again so many decades passed.

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[RAM1ALASKA]

Thanks Mark! Excellent story, excellent photos.
And you gotta love the stock on that 14 !!!!

[browningautorifle]

Very rare for all four to make it all the way through like that. Yes, the stock on that '14 is far from average...love to get a bit of clean and oil and see how it looks.

[Mark in Rochester]

Very rare for all four to make it all the way through like that.

Burgett and all 3 of his 101st horse stall bunkmates all survived ww2. Indeed a rare occurrence. His books are a must read



Donald R. Burgett was a writer and a former World War II paratrooper. He was among the Airborne troopers who landed in Normandy early on the morning of June 6, 1944 (D Day). He was a member of the 101st Airborne Division (United States), ("The Screaming Eagles"), and the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Burgett served in 'A' Company, 1st Battalion, 506th PIR as both a rifleman and a machine-gunner.

Burgett parachuted into Holland, his second combat jump, as part of Operation Market-Garden, and fought for 72 days behind the German lines. After just a few weeks rest, he was again sent into combat, this time at the Battle of the Bulge, where the 101st, along with Combat Command B of the U.S. 10th Armored Division (United States) and the all African American 969th Field Artillery Battalion successfully held out against nine German armored divisions during the siege of Bastogne. Burgett went on to fight through Operation Nordwind, on into Germany to the Ruhr Valley, the Rhineland, and Bavaria. While in action with the 101st, Burgett was wounded three times and had his M1 rifle shot out of his hands at least twice. He was one of only eleven men out of the original 200 in his company to survive from D-Day in Normandy to the war's end.

In addition to writing four books, he has also appeared in a number of History Channel specials on World War II.

[browningautorifle]

Burgett and all 3 of his 101st horse stall bunkmates all survived ww2.

Again so rare...hard to imagine.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Post of the year if not the decade!
And they all look amazingly fit. Must have continued surfing.

[Bill Hollinger]

Very rare for all four to make it all the way through like that. Yes, the stock on that '14 is far from average...love to get a bit of clean and oil and see how it looks.

Might be a Winchester. There were famous for beautiful wood. Looks tiger striped.

[browningautorifle]

Might be a Winchester.

There was a story that in order to fill the contract they used some of the special figure wood for extra fancy orders...what a drill NCO rifle that would make.