Historical Guns

Oftentimes truth is more compelling than fiction. Such was the case of the real War Daddy, SSG Lafayette Pool.

Jackson commanded a brigade at the First Battle of Bull Run. At a critical moment in the fight, Jackson beat back a determined Union assault. Barnard Elliot Bee, himself a distinguished Confederate General who ultimately lost his life in combat, referred to Jackson as a “stone wall” in the face of the enemy. The name stuck.

In 1945 a one-eyed French Canadian named Leo Major did indeed snatch up a matching pair of Sten guns to shoot the holy heck out of a bunch of Waffen SS troopers defending the Dutch town of Zwolle. His story is one of almost insane bravery spanning two wars.

The classic WW2 action epic Fury was based upon the WW1 story of Fray Bentos and her crew.

On the very first day of American involvement in World War 2, a tragic little conflict played out on an otherwise peaceful remote island in Hawaii.

Doris “Dorie” Miller was supposed to have been a girl. Born October 12, 1919, to sharecroppers Connery and Henrietta Miller, he got the name Doris when the midwife assisting with his delivery became somehow convinced he would be female.

The son of a Czarist-era Imperial Russian cavalry officer, Mitch WerBell III suffered from a deplorable excess of personality. WerBell’s life reflected the synergistic combination of an audacious will, an insatiable thirst for chaos, a truly gifted mechanical insight, and some fortuitous timing. The cumulative result was adventure beyond the capacity of normal folk to comprehend.

Some people are born with a sweet tooth or a proclivity for sports. Pablo Escobar was born without a conscience.

The British Commandos helped lay the foundation for modern Special Operations.