An "Unusual" .45…

Good friend of mine sent this via email…

One of the techs he works with told a story about his wife’s late father, who was a marine in the battle of Iwo Jima, had brought back his pistol from the war. I’m thinking, ok must be a nice old 1911 model, one that has probably seen more than a few soldiers hands. then comes the rest of the story.

Among other things, he was on Mt. Suribachi when they raised the flag there. A few days after the flag raising, the Japanese attacked the marines, and another fight broke out. As they are in the middle of everything, a Japanese sniper takes a shot at him. The bullet hits him in the right wrist, and hits his gun hanging from his belt. The round, after completely disabling his right hand, penetrates his leather pistol holster, and embeds itself into the slide of his 1911. fragments from the round penetrate through the other side of the holster, and into his leg, injuring him further. The marine was able to get to the medic, where he was then evacuated to care for his injuries.

So the technician asks if I would like to see it. After telling him the obvious, he calls his wife’s brother and asks if he could bring it up to the shop.

Here are the pictures taken after listening to the same story again from the Marine’s son.

In the holster…


Impact on the pistol itself…

Hole through the slide, after penetrating the Marine’s wrist…

And the damage on the ‘back’ side of the slide, where fragments penetrated the Marine’s hip…
One hellva story, and an ‘interesting and unusual’ 1911.

And HERE is a link to 50,000 Names, sung by George Jones; it’s about the Wall in DC. Whether or not you like Country music, go take a listen. I think you will be impressed…

Comments

An "Unusual" .45… — 11 Comments

  1. Wonder what weapon fired the round. Would a 6×50 have enough punch to do that much damage?

    I believe the Japanese re chambered some of their rifles into a 7.7mm round.

  2. Knowing the 1911, that darn thing would probably still function. 😀

    Skul

  3. Keads- You’re welcome!

    North- That it is!

    El Rojo- Ah… yeah, I hope not too- I’ll ask.

    WSF- I ‘think’ probably a 7.7 based on the entry size…

    Fuzzy- Yep!

    Elm- They do Elm, sadly the gent it happened to died three years ago.

    Skul- Possible 🙂

    ADM- It is.