13 Mar 20 Garand Picture of the Day - Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Champlin's Garand

[browningautorifle]

I'm sorry...I must be missing something. The written story states... "Bastard! Champlin yelled. He fired the CARBINE until the clip was empty"... So it started off as a carbine.

Here's an addendum from the book that I think this came from, actually quoted as a carbine... So, buy the rifle not the story? The Battle of Bataan: A Complete History, 2d ed. By Donald J. Young, page 72.

Information

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[Mark in Rochester]

"Hero of Bataan"
The Story of General Jonathan M. Wainwright
Duane Schultz

Page 195
--excerpt--

The 10th of March dawned clear and hot, typical of Bataan at that time of year. Wainwright and his staff were up early. Because he did not have to leave for Corregidor until noon, he had time to make another inspection tour of the front. This would be another routine visit to the line, Skinny thought, but he came close to death that morning, almost missing his historic meeting with MacArthur.

Wainwright corralled his aides "Dooley, Champlin, and Pugh" but before they all piled into the open scout car he handed Champ his Garand rifle, the one Skinny carried with him wherever he went. As they drove toward the front, Champ recalled, Wainwright "indulging in his favorite pastime of quizzing his aides on military strategy in general and cavalry tactics in particular. Except for distant firing, the war seemed far away."

Champlin slipped on his dark glasses to shield his yes from the dazzling glare of the sun. He looked up at the sky and saw, "directly in front of the sun, a black speck was hurtling down in a direct line towards us and as I looked, the speck grew larger, second by second, and it grew wings, and the wings were dipping from side to side."

"Get the hell out of this car!" Champlin yelled. "Everybody out! Quickly!"

Wainwright, Dooley, and Pugh turned to look at him in surprise. Champ shouted at them again and leaned over to release the catch on Wainwright’s safety belt. He leaped out of the car, carbine in hand, and ran for the cover of trees just beyond the road. The others were right behind him. A stream of bullets from the Japanese plane sliced up the road, tearing into the scout car.

"Bastard!" Champlin yelled. He fired the carbine until the clip was empty.

When the plane was gone, the others raised their heads and came out from behind the bushes. Tom Dooley went to examine the riddled scout car and counted seventy-two bullet holes in it.

"Jesus," he said, "that was a close one."

Champlin glanced at Wainwright. The general had "an amused expression on his face and the twinkle in his eyes could not be mistaken."

Well, you let off some steam, didn’t you, son," Skinny said. "You kind of like that gun, don’t you."

"It’s yours, son. Take it and thanks for spotting that plane. He’d have gotten us if you hadn’t spotted him coming in out of the sun."

"But General," Champlin said. "This gun is ordnance issue."

"Who’s fighting this war?" Skinny said. "The pencil pushers in Washington or you and I? Keep it, son. It’s yours."

Wainwright took a small notebook out of his pocket, wrote a brief note on one of the pages, tore out the paper, and handed it to Champlin.

"If you get out of here," Wainwright said, "take that gun with you. When you get home, hang it over your fireplace and put these words on it."

Champlin did what the general asked. On the stock of the Garand is a brass plaque with the words Wainwright wrote down on that day on Bataan: "To Malcolm McGregor Champlin, United States Navy, from Lieutenant General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, United State Army, for saving my life in a strafing attack by a Japanese ‘Zero’ fighter on Bataan, March 10, 1942." *

[RASelkirk]

Definitely the "Greatest Generation"!

Russ

[ArizonaBeagle]

Definitely the "Greatest Generation"!

Russ

Definitely a great story as well.
Thanks for the follow up from the relative.

AZB

[Bob Seijas]

Pretty clear the writer wasn't gun-savvy and so used "carbine" as a synonym for "rifle" to avoid repetition. I've seen the same with "revolver" applied to an automatic pistol.

[Ovidio]

Can you post the article?

[Mark in Rochester]

Can you post the article?

No - it would not be fair to the Journal - Also I do not have the final version - Join the GCA it's only $25 USD

The license for the photos is single use only and can not be distributed outside of the original contracted disclosure.

Wish I could, Sorry


https://thegca.org/membership/

[Bob Womack]

No - it would not be fair to the Journal - Also I do not have the final version - Join the GCA it's only $25 USD
The license for the photos is single use only and can not be distributed outside of the original contracted disclosure.
Wish I could, Sorry

https://thegca.org/membership/

Wow. An honest man. Good on you!

Bob

[Ovidio]

It’s ok like that.
I’ll go check the link and sign up, thanks.