"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...
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

Yeah, my dad said that it was the army that had the Garands, until after the
Marines left Guadalcanal. But some Marine units there may well have had
them. He was talking about his unit, without specifying what he meant by
that.

BTW, I shot M1 carbines in an organized competition that was co-sponsored by
the NRA and the Police Athletic League. I was 13 at the time, and it was
called the "Junior DCM." I don't know what involvement the DCM had, except
to supply us with beat-up carbines and free ammo.

I recall the first time we shot them outdoors, at 50 yards. I had three or
four Sharpshooter bars by that time with small bore rifles, but I shot one
of the carbines prone at 50 yd. and shots were scattered all over the paper.
I never grew to like that gun at all.

--
Ed Huntress