“Ready, Aim, FIRE!” April 17, 2014
Posted by nrhatch in Gratitude, Travel & Leisure.comments closed
Dad enlisted in the Army and reported for duty on June 27, 1946, at age 18.
His enlistment, at the end of his first year at Northeastern University, coincided with the end of World War II, just before the Korean War.
Dad enjoyed his assigned rifle even though “all spare time has to be used to keep our rifles clean.” In a letter to Aunt Pete and Uncle Webb:
“The rifle is really nice. It takes an 8-shot clip which can be fired as fast as the trigger can be pulled. When the 8th shot is fired, the clip is thrown out and the gun remains open ready for another clip to be inserted. The peep sight has adjustments for both windage and elevation.”
In a letter to his dad at the end of July:
“We have been having more lectures on the rifle. We spent four hours on adjusting our sights for elevation and windage. They showed us how to determine the velocity of the wind, how the direction of the wind could be taken into account. When Garrand invented this rifle, he did a darn good job.”
A highlight of basic training for dad, who had gone deer hunting in Vermont each fall, involved qualifying on the rifle range as an expert on the M1 semi-automatic rifle. He enjoyed his time on the rifle range, despite having to rise early. In a letter to his father dated August 5th:
“We are on the rifle range for a few days. We get up at 2:45 and have reveille at 3:00. We don’t come back from range till 7:00 P.M. Then we have to clean equipment. We will shoot 200, 300, 500 yards.”
Wikipedia ~ Basic Training (in Public Domain)
Two days later:
“We have had 3 days on the range firing the Garrand semi-automatic rifle (M1). Today we started firing for record. We use a 20-inch bulls eye at 500 yards, which is over one quarter of a mile. I got 5 bulls eyes and 3 4’s which gave me 37 out of 40.”
“At 300 yards, I had 51 seconds to drop from standing to prone position, fire one shot, take clip from cartridge belt, reload and fire 8 more rounds. Out of the 9 shots, I got 5 bulls eyes, 2 4’s and 2 3’s, which totals 39 out of 45.”
“As a total of all my shooting for record I have 109 out of a possible 125 so far. Tomorrow I will fire 17 more shots from 200 yards ~ a maximum score of 85 points. We need 180 for expert, 165 for sharpshooter, and 140 for marksman. It’s time for light’s out so I will finish tomorrow night when I can tell you how I qualified.”
The next night, he finished the letter with good news:
“We finished our time on the rifle range this morning. Last night, I was a little doubtful whether I could make expert or not. It meant getting 71 out of 85 points today. I made it with 3 to spare ~ I got 74 out of 85. My total on record fire was 183 out of 210. That qualifies me as expert.”
“Nine of the shots I fired today were sustained fire (rapid fire). It was another 51 second exercise. I had to be standing, go to a sitting position, fire 1 round, insert new clip and fire 8 more. Of the nine, I got 6 bulls eyes and 3 4’s for a total of 42 out of 45. Out of the 42 shots fired for record, I got 19 bulls eyes, 19 4’s, and 4 3’s. Better than I can shoot a 22.”
“Tomorrow morning will be a relief after getting up at 2:45. We don’t have to get up until 5:00. Next week we have bayonet drill. They say that is a hard week, but it looks like fun. I really should catch up on some sleep. After all I have had only 5 hours of sleep per night for the last four nights. Now for the sack.”
A few days later, on August 10th, he shared an abbreviated version of his qualification experience with Aunt Lucy:
“This week we spent most of our time firing the M1 rifle at targets 200, 300, and 500 yards away. I did pretty good. We needed 140 to get qualified as marksman, 165 to qualify as sharpshooter and 180 to qualify as expert. I had 183, so made expert. I feel pretty good about it. I really didn’t expect to do nearly that good.
“As of today my training here is half over. I have finished four of the eight weeks of training. So far it hasn’t been bad except for the heat. This weekend I have a pass which allows me to go anywhere within 100 miles of the fort as long as I am back by 5 o’clock Monday morning. I think I may take advantage of it.”
Aah . . . that’s better!
Concludes tomorrow . . . We Rest Here
Spirit Lights The Way 