My Pistole 640(b) returned to me after 46 years

[BudMan5]

My first post so I thought I would talk about my first Milsurp acquisition, a Pistole 640(b) which i am sure many of you already know is a FN HiPower made for the German Army.
I was a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam and my avatar depicts an artist rendition of my aircraft. I stayed in VN for 32 months and during that whole peroid, I carried this pistol:



The serial number reveals that it was made in Fabrique National plant in the summer of 1943 while under control of the German Wehrmacht and it has the appropriate markings. It was probably brought home to America by a returning GI and then years later, carried to Vietnam by an American soldier as a personal weapon. At some point, someone had applied "bumper chrome" to the pistol as opposed to a hard chrome application.

I had traded for the pistol early on in my tour and carried it on every flight mission/sortie that I flew which totaled up to more than 3500 combat flight hours. In September, 1968 I was notified that my fifth request for an extended six month tour had been denied and I was going home the next day. I did not have time to go to the local Army Provost Martial's office to get an export form so I passed it on to another crew chief in my platoon. I very much regretted losing it after all of the adventures we had shared but I didn't have any choice.

Forty-six years later, I received a phone call from that fellow crew chief. He had been looking for me for several years and had finally tracked me down. He offered to return the HiPower to me which i jumped at. A couple of days later, my FFL dealer had received it and the picture above is how it looked the day i got it back. The years hadn't been kind to it and the 'bumper chrome' was heavily pitted. I asked ZDave Williams, the chief gun smith at Springfield Armory if he could restored the finish and he did a great job. Here it is today as it looks along with the M3 holster that i carried it in:

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[browningautorifle]

Glad you got it back, I know how much those weapons can mean. Thanks for bringing it out to show us...

[Bob Womack]

Wow. How cool is that?

Bob

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Wow. How cool is that?

Bob

PDC ( Pretty darn cool)! Thanks for sharing.

[mmppres]

wow wonderful pistol glad you got it back an thanks for your service too

[Sarge]

Glad to hear that you got your HP back!
I also carried a Browning, both while flying door gunner and later on the ground.
3 differences -
A. I took mine with me, along with a box of Super Vel hollow points.
B. My pistol is a 50s vintage military contract pistol.
C. I declared it as a war trophy and brought it home.
I carried my HP in a Canadian web holster which I also took with me.
In addition to my flight time I have 3 jumps in RVN carrying that rig.
Here is my HP along with a ruskie Makerov I brought back and a Tokerev I picked up after I returned.
Have trophy papers on all 3. I also have a bill of sale from a gun shop just outside the main gate of Ft Lewis, Wash for the HP.
Sarge
Attachment 66186

[A square 10]

this is one of those posts that warm my heart and i appreciate you sharing it with us

[Bruce McAskill]

I am very glad you got it back. Very nice job on the new finish. The Hi-Power may not have come from here over to RVN. The Russians as well as the Chinese were sending weapons into Viet Nam on a regular basis. The Russians sent quite a bit of WW2 German captured equipment to the North as did the Chinese which had come from Russian earlier too. Early on they could always say it's not Russian made so it's not us sending it this way.

[Colonel Enfield]

Great story - thank you for sharing it with us, along with the pics!