A cadet and his '03 -1937

[VeeVee]

A cadet and his springfield '03 - 1937

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[Jim Tarleton]

Whoa! That guy is neat looking to say the least. I wish I had that rifle in its condition at the time.

Jim

[Rick the Librarian]

Nice picture, VeeVee. He was a member of the Philippine Military Academy, right?

[VeeVee]

Hi Rick,
Yes, I thought it's a relatively rare picture that you don't usually see around. Here are some more but you can't make out the 1903's too well.





-victor

[BEAR]

I know I'm old and my eyes aren't as good as they used to be ... but those bayonets sure look like Krag bayonets. I guess on the small statured Filipinos a M1905 would be like a short sword.
BEAR

[Bayonetman]

Keep in mind that the US Military Academy (West Point) used the Model 1892 (Krag) bayonet on their M1903s and M1s until the M14 came into use and they had to switch to the M6. I would not be at all surprised that the Philippine Academy also used the Krag. Look at the first large photo with the bayonet against the white pants - almost certainly the Krag.

[Fredtheobviouspseudonym]

I wonder how many of those young cadets were alive six years later.

Americans complain a lot, but at least haven't (outside of Guam) been occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army.

I can't recall right now what Guamanian legal status is, but since they have given the highest proportion of their young men to US military service in the last century of any American state or territory I think they're Americans.

[Rick the Librarian]

Great pictures!!

[VeeVee]

I think the Class of 1940 graduated about 67 cadets and nine of them didn't survive the war. Other classes suffered casualties too. At the outbreak of war, these cadets had to lead too many untrained or under-trained recruits. Sometimes whole battalions of men who joined up after Pearl Harbor and fired their 1917 enfields for the first time in actual combat.

One graduate from the Class of 1940 that didn't survive the war was mentioned in the book:

"The War Journal of Maj. Damon "Rocky" Gause"

In one part of the book, it tells of Maj. Gause's escape from Corregidor when it surrendered. He was a US Army Air Corp officer and he made his escape with Filipino Lt. Alberto Arranzaso, a PMA 1940 grad. Arranzaso was wounded by a strafing Japanese plane while he and Maj. Gause floated/swam away from Corregidor. Knowing he was a dead weight to Maj. Gause, he gave him his money, said something like "my game's up" and plunged underwater, sacrificing himself so Maj. Gause could get away. He knew Gause wouldn't leave him behind and both of them would have eventually perished as a result.

These were good men.