It was, also, in the mid '20s that the Thompson submachine gun was adopted for service by an official military branch of the government. The U.S. Coast Guard issued Thompsons to patrol boats along the eastern seaboard. In 1928, Auto Ordnance made a new Navy model to be used by Marines on Naval gunboats.

World War II began, and the Army recognized the need for the submachine gun. The Thompson, simplified and more durable with the butt stock removed and a 30 shot stick, became the constant companion of American soldiers. Story, after story, tells how it was the fire of the Thompson submachine gun that protected the villages, saved the troops and won the battles in Europe and the Pacific.