Date: August 11, 2019
When They Went to War, They Carried A Powerful Handgun
THE 1911A1, IN COMBAT, WAS A PRIZED WEAPON TO CARRY
Seth set in his firing position staring west into the darkness. He had been on this stinking Island, not counting this morning, for 21 days. It is early morning 7 July 1944, and he was wondering what was a boy from Kansas doing in the jungles of Saipan. Saipan was 1,463 miles from Tokyo and 6,941 miles back to Newton, Kansas. After he graduated “Boot” and “SOI” Seth was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force. He qualified with the Springfield bolt action and a Singer 1911A1. He loved his Singer 1911A1. He would carry this very same Singer 1911A1 into Guadalcanal where he experienced baptism under fire. He chuckled to himself about how he managed, with some shadiness, to bring this 1911A1 along with him.
He has been in the 2nd Marines for more than two years. His section of the defensive line was called Harakiri Gulch. The 2nd Marines were nearly nose to nose with the Japs, maybe 600 yards apart at the most. At 04:30 hrs., he began to hear sporadic gun fire up and down the line. He was a little alarmed so he slapped the legs of the sleeping Marines on either side of him. Their job was to protect the flanks of two separate machinegun nests. There were 30 Marines in this gap.
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