M1 History

December 17, 2013

Civilian Marksmanship Program▸M1 History

Good morning, I received my M1 this morning and it looks fantastic! Reminds me of 1948 when I was at Parris Island, SC going through boot camp and the drill instructors made us do many things with the rifle/piece as they told us to call it.  Standing at attention and holding on to the rifle with one hand while the sand fleas were flying around your face, then while holding onto the rifle’s pistol grip with one hand they had us slap the sling with the other hand!  I can still remember guys having a hard time holding it and the tip end would keep getting lower and lower. . After taking it out of the box I can see that it does weigh quite a bit and I don’t know how we ever made it through the boot training! I was sent to Camp Pendleton, CA afterward boot camp and was in the Fleet Marine Infantry however I was discharged in 1949 because of the one year enlistment they had going on back then.  But I had to sign up for 6 years in the inactive reserve and then when the Korean War started I was called back but not as soon as the active reservists were and I was sent to Camp Lejune and assigned to an Anti-Aircraft Battalion and spent a couple of years at Camp Lejune so didn’t see any combat.

Best regards,