On Jul 21, 10:22*pm, "Ed Huntress" wrote:
...My dad was a sergeant in the First Marine
Division, first landing at Guadalcanal, and all that.

They were issued '03 Springfields, not M1 Garands (my dad had a Thompson
after the first day -- there were plenty of them lying in the hands of dead
Marines). Anyway, after they'd been there a few weeks, they got a shipment
of M1 carbines. The Marines in his unit -- I don't know if this was at the
platoon level or above -- tried them out for three days. Then they walked
down to the beach and threw them in the ocean.

In "The Pacific," there were plenty of M1 Garands at Guadalcanal, as well as
some carbines. But my dad told me they never got Garands until they shipped
out of Guadalcanal. They were using '03s and Thompsons until they left.

--
Ed Huntress

AFAIK the Army arrived with Garands in October 1942, and used them in
the assault on Mt Wilson, but the fierce early fighting was
Springfield vs Arisaka.

jsw