{"id":127308,"date":"2020-08-30T14:34:52","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T18:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=127308"},"modified":"2020-08-30T14:34:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T17:17:17","slug":"americas-forgotten-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/americas-forgotten-war\/","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s Forgotten War & the 1911 That Saved My Friend’s Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"America\u2019s
Like most major wars, the Korean Conflict was a brutal and pitiless bloodbath. It is in the small stories that one can begin to grasp the drama. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The war in Korea spanned\nfrom June 1950 until July 1953 and ultimately claimed more than 44,000 American\nlives. The first major proxy war fought between communism and democracy, this\nbloody conflict played out in countless little dramas across the desolate\nKorean wastes. The Allies started the war with the weapons, vehicles, and\naircraft left over from World War 2. The end result was brutal, bloody, and,\nultimately, fairly futile. The Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, in a\nstalemate that exists to this very day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death\nNever Sleeps<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"America\u2019s
The communist Chinese were skilled fighters and worthy adversaries during the bloody war in Korea. This American grunt is seen alongside a captured communist Degtyaryov machine gun. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A friend served a tour as\nan Infantry soldier during the Korean War. He has little use for the communist\nChinese even today. The fanatical communists fought frequently at night. My\nbuddy respected their skill at arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
My buddy thought the world of the heavy Browning Automatic Rifle. The BAR\u2019s automatic fire became the focal point around which the rifle squad orbited. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"America\u2019s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The real world isn\u2019t much\nlike Call of Duty, and soldiers start out with the tools Uncle Sam gives them. My\nbuddy carried an M1 rifle, what we would call a Garand today, and held the\nBrowning Automatic Rifle in enormous esteem. He told me that the individual\nriflemen all willingly carried spare magazines for the BAR. If the BAR went\ndown the entire unit bogged down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The full-power .30-caliber M1 rifle is a superb combat tool. However, my friend needed something handier as a personal defense weapon. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"America\u2019s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a junior enlisted soldier, my friend was not authorized a handgun. There was the obligatory barter economy in weapons, but he found himself unable to scrounge a proper combat pistol. As he was immersed in life-threatening peril pretty much all the time he felt the need for some sort of handy defensive tool. A letter back home to his dad took care of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The Colt M1911 pistol has been a ubiquitous feature of American society for more than a century. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His next care package from\nthe states included a civilian Colt 1911 handgun and a holster. The heavy\npistol ran standard GI-issue .45ACP rounds, so feeding the beast was not a\nchallenge. That civilian Colt became his constant companion. Whether awake,\nasleep, eating, shaving, or defecating, that powerful combat pistol never left\nhis side.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The Korean War saw some arctic-grade temperatures. Such a forbidding environment makes combat operations hugely more difficult. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The night was\nbone-chilling cold, and my friend lay curled up tightly within his sleeping bag\nat the bottom of a forsaken foxhole. His platoon had set out security, but it\nis incredibly difficult to maintain an effective defensive perimeter throughout\na dark night in sub-zero temperatures. Somebody fell asleep or froze. The\nChinese communists took advantage of the opportunity and infiltrated the\nAmerican fighting positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
Though generally small-statured, the Chicom soldiers who fought in Korea were of hearty stock. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The visibility was OK. The moon produced enough light for the communists to control their infiltration. My buddy awoke gently for reasons he still cannot elucidate and looked up from the bottom of his hole into the eyes of a communist soldier carrying a bolt-action rifle.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
A meager diet kept most communist Chinese soldiers smaller than their corn-fed American counterparts. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most of the Chicom soldiers were small-statured. The diet upon which they were raised was not great, so they seldom grew very large. By contrast, however, this enormous Chinese communist was over six feet tall. For a pregnant moment, both men stared at each other in the dim light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The Colt 1911 pistol my buddy\u2019s dad mailed him quite literally saved his life on a cold dark night in Korea. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My pal slept with his 1911 locked and loaded inside his sleeping bag. The Chinese soldier raised his rifle, while my buddy struggled desperately with the zipper of his fart sack. He got one arm with the pistol through the head hole and triggered off two quick rounds. Both of the heavy .45-caliber bullets hit the big Chinese communist soldier in the chest and bowled him over backward, his rifle flying out of his hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
There resulted in a vicious firefight waged pitilessly and at close range. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The noise of the two gunshots alerted the American grunts nearby and a vigorous firefight ensued. The Chinese were driven back in desperate close-quarters combat. My friend related the story to me in my medical clinic one day when I saw him as a patient for something otherwise unremarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John\nBrowning\u2019s Hand Howitzer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"America\u2019s
Back in WW2 and Korea, the tactical handgun was not employed as we use it today. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The family lineage of John Browning\u2019s esteemed 1911 pistol has been exhaustively cataloged. We have tread this hallowed ground in this very venue in fact. Here\u2019s a link– https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/m1911-in-italy\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The Colt M1911 pistol was a favorite of Prohibition-era gangsters like John Dillinger. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Running in parallel with\nthe military use of the 1911 warhorse, Colt also marketed the gun aggressively\nto civilian users both in the United States and abroad. The same sterling\nattributes that made the 1911 such an effective combat tool also earned the gun\na dedicated following among Law Enforcement and civilian shooters as well. The\ngun was popular among Depression-era gangsters. By 1950 the entire country was\ncovered in a thin patina of Colt 1911 handguns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The M1911A1 was a slightly upgraded version of the original M1911 developed in 1924. Both versions were readily obtainable on the American civilian market in the 1950s. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Civilian sales were brisk\nthroughout the gun\u2019s long service life, and the government actually sold\nsurplus versions indirectly to the public back in the days when we were indeed\nstill a nation of rugged individualists. By 1950 Colt was offering versions\nwith aluminum frames as well as stubby Commander variants better suited for\nconcealed carry. My friend passed his trusted civilian Colt on to a friend\nstill in country when he rotated home, and the fate of the gun that saved his\nlife on that frozen Korean battlefield was lost forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timing\nis Everything<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"America\u2019s
Combat is a fairly gear-intensive business, and much of that stuff is quite heavy. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A combat soldier in the\nfield is like a walking travel trailer. Everything you need to live, thrive,\nand fight rides about on your back or in pouches attached to your web gear.\nUnder such circumstances mass is life. Extra weight means decreased mobility\nand increased fatigue. In the deadly random world of individual combat being\nslow can get you killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
Soldiers learn their craft quickly or perish. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This buddy was also an acquaintance made through my medical clinic. He was a platoon leader and commissioned officer who had already been operating downrange for a couple of months. The learning curve is steep in the unforgiving world of Infantry combat, but my friend was getting good at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
Korean War-era flak vests were fairly rudimentary compared to the high-tech versions used today. This one is shown on an Ethiopian soldier of the Kagnew Battalion fighting in Korea. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He got word through the\nchain of command that his platoon would be pulled out of the line for a quick\nresupply. The Army was issuing some new kind of armored vest, and his unit was\ndue to get theirs from an improvised supply point very near the front. His men\nwere none too thrilled about adding the weight of body armor to their\nalready-overburdened loadout, but the momentary respite from combat would be\nwelcome. That meant at least one hot meal and a single night in the rear\nsomeplace safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The selective fire M2 Carbine is indeed a light and handy rifle. However, the weapon is not as reliable as the full-sized M1 Garand while packing substantially less punch. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The vest was indeed bulky,\nbut Uncle Sam supposedly knew what he was doing. My buddy rearranged his gear\nto ride on the outside of the new body armor and made ready to trek back into\nhell. Though he had originally been issued a selective fire M2 Carbine, the\nyoung Platoon Leader had binned that in favor of a heavy M1 rifle for its\ngreater reach and reliability. He also carried an M1911A1 pistol in a shoulder\nholster now on the outside of his spanking new armored vest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The heavy .303-caliber bullet that hit my friend would have undoubtedly killed him had it not been for his new body armor. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On his first day back in the line, a Chicom soldier shot him in the chest with a large-caliber sniper rifle. The heavy round struck his holstered 1911 a glancing blow before deflecting on a beeline for his heart. The partially-spent bullet stopped on his brand-new vest, itself still fresh out of its packaging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The Lee-Enfield No.4 MK. I (T) is a combat-proven sniper system. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His troops isolated and killed the Chinese sniper. He was armed with a WW2-vintage British Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk. I (T) precision rifle. How this WW2-era sniper tool found its way into the hands of a communist Chinese sharpshooter in the 1950\u2019s-era Korea is anybody\u2019s guess. My buddy drew a fresh armored vest and wore it every day through the rest of his time in-country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precision\nFirepower<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"America\u2019s
The SMLE served well in the hands of Commonwealth troops throughout WW1. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The British Lee-Enfield rifle was one of the most produced military weapons in human history. Starting with the rudimentary MLE versions devised by James Paris Lee and first launched in 1895, more than 17 million copies have seen service. The Lee-Enfield can still be found in some of your less well-funded war zones even today. The Lee-Enfield was considered a weapon of distinction among Afghan mujahedin back in the 1980s when they were fighting the Soviets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
This WW1-era SMLE is fairly typical of the genre. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
Such stuff as this complicated adjustable 2,000-yard sight on an early WW1-vintage SMLE got binned on later Marks. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"America\u2019s
The No.4 MK. I (T) sniper version of the Lee-Enfield rifle received its baptism by fire in the hands of British snipers like this one during WW2. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lee-Enfield went\nthrough a bewildering array of Marks in its evolutionary march toward the No.4\nMk. I (T) that nearly killed my friend. The SMLE (Short Magazine Lee-Enfield\nrendered \u201cSmelly\u201d by the troops who used it) served throughout World War 1.\nSuch niceties as the ill-conceived sliding magazine cutoff that transformed the\nbolt-action repeater into a single-shot rifle was rightfully discarded, but the\ngun remained essentially unchanged throughout the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk. It was the standard WW2 variant. It is distinguishable at a glance from previous Marks by the stubby length of barrel protruding from the snout. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The definitive WW2 version was the No. 4 Mk. I formally adopted it in 1941. While nominally stronger than the previous versions, it was in actuality just much cheaper to produce. The previous complicated adjustable sight was replaced with a simple L-shaped flip. The primary differentiating feature was that the later rifle retained a stubby bit of barrel protruding out the front, where the earlier SMLE had a hog-nosed appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
Combat is mankind\u2019s ultimate expression of orchestrated violence. This battle-damaged Lee-Enfield No. 4 mutely attests to the ferocity of modern warfare. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"America\u2019s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Korean War era was a confusing time. Almost two million Americans served, and nearly five million people were killed on both sides. While the war ended in a truce, the valor, and selflessness of those who served place them among the finest Americans who ever lived. We can never adequately thank those awesome old guys who went off to fight to help keep that little bit of the world safe for democracy and freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"America\u2019s
The debt we owe to those old guys who served in WW2 and Korea can never be adequately repaid. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Korean War era was a confusing time. Almost two million Americans served, and nearly five million people were killed on both sides. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":127331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[257,772],"tags":[132,102,752,636],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-127308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-historical-guns","8":"category-will-dabbs","9":"tag-buzz","10":"tag-feature-articles","11":"tag-historical-guns","12":"tag-history"},"yoast_head":"\nAmerica\u2019s Forgotten War & the 1911 That Saved My Friend's Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"America\u2019s Forgotten War & the 1911 That Saved My Friend's Life - Will Dabbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/americas-forgotten-war\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"America\u2019s Forgotten War & the 1911 That Saved My Friend's Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Korean War era was a confusing time. 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However, shooting guns and claiming it was work seemed like a pretty sweet hustle. As a result, Will serendipitously transformed an avocation into a vocation. Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Will flew UH1H, OH58A\\\/C, CH47D and AH1S helicopters operationally as an Army Aviator. He is SCUBA-qualified and has parachuted out of perfectly good airplanes at 3 o'clock in the morning. Will has summited Mount McKinley, Alaska, six times\u2026always at the controls of an Army helicopter, which is the only way sensible folk climb mountains. Will has delivered sixty babies and occasionally wrung human blood out of his socks. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three awesome adult children. Turn-ons include vintage German machineguns, flying his sexy-cool RV6A airplane, Count Chocula cereal and the movie \u201cAliens.\u201d www.word-monkey.com Experience: -Professional Writer-thousands of publishing credits for dozens of titles -Mechanical Engineer\\\/Practicing Physician -Instrument-rated Commercial Pilot -Sunday School Teacher\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.word-monkey.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/will.dabbs.9\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/drwildmanmd\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/author\\\/willdabbs\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"America\u2019s Forgotten War & the 1911 That Saved My Friend's Life","description":"America\u2019s Forgotten War & the 1911 That Saved My Friend's Life - Will Dabbs","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/americas-forgotten-war\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"America\u2019s Forgotten War & the 1911 That Saved My Friend's Life","og_description":"The Korean War era was a confusing time. 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