Jack,
How goes the battle lately?

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Have a great day!
Lefty

Hello Lefty,

All is well.

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All the Best
Jack

I'm glad to see this fine thread is getting more and more interesting. Another reason why I am grateful to Jack is that I am now hooked on the Pacific area battlefields. I had already read a lot about Darwin, Bougainville and a few other places, but Buna and Hollandia were quite new to me. I now started an Ausi insignia collection too. Krieg has sent me a nice gift ( infantery pins) and I recently found the Anzac Hat insignia (the one that goes on the side of the hat with the crown inside a sunset). I am sure you remember seeing those. It may seem modest for a start but you certainly don't find these on fleemarkets here

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Skipper,

The 'Rising Sun' badge is not in fact the rising sun.

Design of a new badge was commissioned to a man I cannot name at the moment, and he went to a military unit hall or somesuch, and there was a display on the wall of a selection of bayonets in roughly the same configuration as the badge.

Thus the design was formed.


John.

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"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". - Voltaire.

Hey Jack!!
Glad to read about the eye surgery going well! Hope that all is still well since then! Thanks for the note! I'm back here for today, and once again I sit here totally caught up in your details about your experiences!

Thanks for all of it, and those to come!!

scott

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Scott

Hi Jack, I went to see a friend who is also a militaria collector who has a great admiration for the USMC . He showed me some of his items and allowed me to take a picture of it and post it for you. The weapon is 100% neutralized according to European regulations.



This should be close to what you had yourself back then. Concerning the Thompson I know you also used the round charger, he has it too ,but chose to fit the short straight one.

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Hello Skipper,

Thank you, Yes, I'm very familiar with that weapon, I carried a number of Thompson's, that's one of the earlier M1928 with the bolt knob on top. The later M1 series Thompson had the bolt on the right side, and the later phosphate finish held up to salt water better than the blued guns.

They pointed and shot well, fit on your lap, you could tuck the butt stock under your arm and move through thick vegetation with out getting caught on a vine or the greenery. A quick squeeze would put three rounds into what you are looking at, at close range. Took the same ammunition as your .45. A couple five round bursts would knock down, and thin out the foot traffic in a hurry that was heading your way.

If you mean round charger, as the drum magazine, they were around in the early days as well, they were noisy, slow to reload, and bulky. You could carry two thirty round clips more practically than the drum, I did see a few of those with the navy boys as late as '44.

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All the Best
Jack

Hi Jack, yes I meant the drum magazine. I suspected these were used earlier, but I would never have thought the left overs were still around as late as 1944. Thanks for these details, my buddy will be happy to hear this too. I see you still remember all the details about the bolts. It was a fine weapon, a bit heavy ,but sturdy and reliable, but that's my unexperienced two cents about it.

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Hello Skip,

No, you have a good eye, heavy has it's advantages. It's good and stout, and you can butt stroke as well as a rifle. There was a switch on the left side above the trigger ahead of the safety, that could be set for a single shot. The drums slipped in from the side, the later M1 Thompson's were not designed to accept them.

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All the Best
Jack

Did you actually use the single shot option? I figure it wasn't the best rifle for a sniper duty, and you might as well fire a whole round , considering precision was not the priority.

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A few times, because of the situation, a rule of thumb I was taught in the days of old: if you are alone and isolated, required to fire, one shot they will hear, two shots gives direction, three shots your location.

At close range looking down the site of the weapon is not necessary, or possible when those quick few seconds go by. At 100-150 yards you can keep their heads down with a Thompson, maybe hit one or two. You need to grab an M1, an 03, or a BAR beyond that distance.

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All the Best
Jack

That makes sense, this would be perfect providing you'd manage to take the enemy down with one shot. It must have been erve wrecking waiting for the exact target a tthe right moment , knowing that the guy opposite would probably try to do the same first. Surprise must have been a key element.

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Skip,

Single shot on a Thompson is semi automatic fire from an open bolt, a second shot is merely another squeeze of the trigger. It's not a precision weapon for anything beyond a couple of times as far as you may try to hit something with a pistol.

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All the Best
Jack

Hello Jack,

I´d be curious to know how often did you change shooting location to another? And what effect did daytime or nightime have on this? Thanx!

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Hello Kai.

At night in a hole with no contact, as little as possible. Twilight or daylight under fire, when they know you are there, keep moving, if you reload behind cover move a few feet over, or on the other side of an object, don't pop up in the same spot if you can help it. Find a blind spot and work your way towards them, or around behind them.

So very many times the conditions are much less than ideal, you shoot and reload on the move, find a spot where the lead isn't flying, and for some reason once in a while, they don't come close to hitting you. On occasion you end up face to face with one, then it's who shoots and hits first, if there is any shooting at all.

Something else that sinks in after a while, at first it may seem like they are aiming right at you, some times they are, many times it's a miss aimed at someone else, I can not discount that either, more fellas are hit by a miss than an aimed shot from what I'd seen. The first time I came under a strafing run from an aircraft, I thought the pilot must have looking right at me, most likely he didn't see me at all, just stitching up the ground to clear the area.

Scary thought, considering more people are not aiming at you. On the other hand if you shoot at random you may actually hit an enemy.

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Is you heart just pounding out of your chest?

Was the last time you had contact just as terrifying as the first?

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Best Regards,
JW

Skip,

You get the idea, there are a hell of a lot more misses, be it from small arms, mortars, grenades, artillery, and plenty stray hot steel, rocks, and coral flying around, that goes for our stuff as well.

Jeff,

First time and many times after, yes, pounding hard enough that you would think someone else could hear it. By the last time much had changed, my reactions differed, we all seemed to age very quickly over there, I became less emotional about things.

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All the Best
Jack

jack... it is a honor to share company of a man such as yourself... Thank you for educating us and sharing a part of your life