03s in Korea

[Will Durant]

BS-Pure BS.As an example,glass bedding did not even exist then.Fitting a machine barrel to a 1903-Yeah Sure! if you are one Hell of an Armorer and (and) have access to a good lathe,reamer ....ETC.Bad Sea Tale!!! Will

[BEAR]

There is a widely known picture of a sniper on a hillside in Korea with an 03A4. The snake eaters issued 03s, 03A3's,and A4's to their Montagard troopers in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Regards, Clark

Pictures like this
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d8...and%20A3/2.jpg

[al b03]

Thanks Will, His name was Vic, and at 14 He told me some tales that made my hair stand on end. I guess all I could thank him for, was peeking my interest in weapons. He did have one hell of a gun collection.

[smle-man]

Sounds to me like they were indeed used in at least one instance. The supply of 03's was obviously close at hand to boot. Is the book fiction or first hand experience?

One of the best sources I have found for good info are the published diaries of combatants. At the time they were written, their only agenda was survival. Many contain very interesting information, such as Macklin's observation that a combat replacement Regiment was armed with Krags in WWI. I don't recall that he identified the Regiment.

Jim

Non-fiction. It was taken from historical records and first hand interviews with the survivors of the action. A very well written and exciting book to read.

[moonraker]

Just finished "One Bugle no Drums" by USMC Maj. Wm Hopkins. He states that the Chinese used many '03's against the UN troops in battle, also Tommy guns.

[charles isaac]

Marines used the M1903 in the Korean War.

Many Marine survivors of the Korean war have stated the need to run out among the fallen enemy after an assault was repelled in order to retrieve ammo and weapons because they didn't have enough ammo to shoot all the Chinese that were attacking them. Marines picked up '03s and used them in the Korean War. This is documented history.

To this day, the Army uses the rack grade M14 in combat. I believe it is because thier supply system is so huge, there are "nonessential" weapons just kind of hanging around and Soldiers are able to procure them through the right channels. The only Marine M14s are the modernized and accurate but ungainly DMRs and EMRs. Yes, I am jealous that the Army has Nam era M14s.

The Chinese were on our side in WWII and the US supplied them with US weapons. '03s were part of the deal.

Troops will use weapons of opprutunity in combat. It makes no difference what the standard issue arms are, for example, Sgt Yorks unit was issued M1917 "Enfields". Sgt York used an '03 in combat, never taking into account that he was not being historically correct!

[charles isaac]

Marines used the M1903 in the Korean War.

Many Marine survivors of the Korean war have stated the need to run out among the fallen enemy after an assault was repelled in order to retrieve ammo and weapons because they didn't have enough ammo to shoot all the Chinese that were attacking them. Marines picked up '03s and used them in the Korean War. This is documented history.

To this day, the Army uses the rack grade M14 in combat. I believe it is because thier supply system is so huge, there are "nonessential" weapons just kind of hanging around and Soldiers are able to procure them through the right channels. The only Marine M14s are the modernized and accurate but ungainly DMRs and EMRs. Yes, I am jealous that the Army has Nam era M14s.

The Chinese were on our side in WWII and the US supplied them with US weapons. '03s were part of the deal.

Troops will use weapons of opprutunity in combat. It makes no difference what the standard issue arms are, for example, Sgt Yorks unit was issued M1917 "Enfields". Sgt York used an '03 in combat, never taking into account that he was not being historically correct!

[Dollar Bill]

I was doing a search in the FEDLOG (Army parts ordering info) last year and came across "Rifle, M14". In stock, $163 each. I dropped the requisition for 2 to our supply tech but had to call and cancel it before either she or I got fired. It would have been nice though.

[edlmann]

. . . weapons taken from the Chinese including a Belgian 'automatic rifle'. An FND perhaps?

FN49? What were the Belgians armed with at the time?

FWIW; AFAIK; IMHO; YMMV; yadda, yadda, yadda.

Regards, Ed Mann

Bobby Bowden is doing a fine job - just leave him alone.

Albert says, "Click here for free Gator wallpaper."

[Steeley Eyed Missile Man]

and just found the link again. Enjoy.
http://www.koreanwar.org/html/christmas_day_2000.html

Korean War Project http://www.koreanwar.org
P.O. Box 180190
Dallas, TX 75218-0190
214-320-0342

December 25, 2000

===============================================
Christmas Day - 2000 - A Special Letter From The Past
===============================================

On Christmas Day From the Korean War Project.

Ted and I have been up since 5 AM doing what we do
virtually every day of the year, Remember Korean War
Veterans and their families...

We have a special letter written 50 years ago today from
Colonel David Hughes, USMA Class of 1950.

Colonel Hughes is one of our greatest supporters. It is
our honor to share his words with you after they were written
in the cold days of retreat from the North.

Thank you for letting us do good work..

Hal and Ted Barker
0900 December 25, 2000


Dave Hughes
dave@oldcolo.com

Shanks Bootees

It was during the dark days of the December retreat when I first saw them. They were hanging from the cold muzzle of an old, battered, Springfield rifle - a pair of tiny blue baby bootees. Their pale silk ribbons ended in a neat bow behind the front sight, and each little boot hung down separately, one slightly above the other, swinging silently in the wind. They reminded me of tiny bells, and even though one had a smudge of dirt on its soft surface, and part of the ribbon that touched th barrel had lost color from scorching heat, they seemed to me to be the freshest, cleanest objects in all of drab Korea.

At first the bootees had fixed my attention, but after the suprise of seeing these symbols of home in such an incongruous place had worn off, I let my eyes drift, unobserved, to their owner.

He was a lieutenant, young, I could see, and tired; not so much from the exertion of the trudging march, but with the wear of long days and nights in combat. He was talking to men from his platoon, all of them together watching the core of a little blaze in their center, and I could tell that he was answering some of their disturbing questions about the war. There was a tone of hopelessness in the men's voices, but the lieutenant sounded cheerful; there was a glint in his eye, and a squint that melted into an easy smile when he spoke.

As my companions moved on, I glanced back briefly to the blue bootees still fresh, still swinging. Often in the next few weeks I saw the lieutenant and his bootees while we moved southward before the Chinese armies. Around the ever-present warming fires I heard the simple story of the officer and his boots.

The lieutenant was named Shank, and he, twenty-two years old, led a rifle platoon. He had come over from Okinawa while the Army was clamped in the vise of the Pusan perimiter, short on manpower. Shank had his baptism of fire on the hills outside Taegu. His youth and fire helped keep his decimated platoon intact, while the North Koreans frantically tried to crack the American lines. Then came the breakthrough, and Shank's company, rode on the record-breaking tank and truck dash northward. He picked up the Springfield rifle then, and kept it because of its renowned accuracy and apparent immunity to the cold weather. A violent day south of Pyongyang won Shank a Silver Star for gallantry, as he led his flesh-and-blood infantrymen against T-34 tanks and destroyed three of them. The Chinese intervention and beginning of the American retreat brought him up to where I met him, south of Kunari.

The bootees? That was simple. He was an expectant father, and the little boots sent by his young wife in the States reflected his whole optimistic attitude while the battle was the darkest. I also learned that when the baby came it would be announced by a new piece of ribbon on the boots - blue for a boy, pink for a girl.

Then I forgot about him as we prepared to defend Seoul from above the frozen Han River. We were hit hard by the Chinese. They streamed down from the hills and charged the barbed wire. They charged again and again, piling up before our smoking guns. The days were but frantic preparation for the nights. Companies dwindled, and my platoon was halved as cold, sickness, and the enemy took their toll. I neared the end of my mental reserves. Names of casualties were rumored, and I heard Shank's among them. I wondered where Shank's bootees were now.

Then the endless night of the retreat from Seoul came. When we got the word my few men were too dulled to show any emotion at the announcement. Most were too miserable to want to retreat again for twenty-five miles, Chinese or no. But we did, and the temperature dropped to 30 degrees below zero as our silent column stumbled along the hard ground. It was the most depressing night I had ever endured - pushed by the uncompromising cold, the pursuing enemy and the chaotic memory of the bloody nights before. I, as a leader, was close to that mental chasm. Only the numbness prevented thinking myself into mute depression.

We plodded across the cracking ice of the Han River at four-thirty
in the morning, and marched on south at an ever-slowing pace. Finally the last five mile stretch was ahead. We rested briefly, and as the men dropped to the roadside they fell asleep immediately. I wondered if I could get them going again. Worse yet, I didn't think I could go myself - so tired, numb, and raw was my body.

Then in the black despair of uselessness in a second-page war I looked up as a passing figure brushed against my inert shoe pacs.

There walked young Lieutenant Shank up the Korean road, whistling softly, while every waking eye followed him to see the muzzle of his battered Springfield rifle. Swinging gaily in the first rays of the morning sun were Shank's bootees, and fluttering below them was the brightest, bluest, piece of ribbon I have ever seen.

Lt David Hughes
Seoul, Korea, Dec 1950
7th Cav Inf Rgt 1 Cav Div