George pins a Silver Star

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

byM. Bishop

October 13, 1944- France, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, U.S. Third Army commander, pins the Silver Star on Private Ernest A. Jenkins of New York City for his “conspicuous gallantry in the liberation of Chateaudun, France..." Jenkins of the 761st Tank Battalion, known as the Black Panthers, they would endure a record 183 straight days in combat and would liberate 30 towns on their crusade into Germany. *National Archives*

[Alpo]

That man's got a Springfield. Army, 1944, and he's got a 1903? What the heck happened to the M1s?

[Texas Joker]

Army, 1944, black soldiers, figure it out

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

3 minutes ago, Texas Joker said:

Army, 1944, black soldiers, figure it out

Was my guess.  Perhaps even he was mess personnel, driver or some other support type job.

Edited May 6 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[DeaconKC]

Also 1903s were still issued to soldiers who were give tracer rounds so they could point out German machine gun positions. When the realized that it identified both the MG nest and the shooter, many 1903s were "lost" and M1 Garands picked up.

[Pat Riot]

I thought the Marines in the Pacific started out with 1903s 

 

Regardless, that is one helluva record. 30 towns liberated in 183 days of combat. 

[Irish Pat]

i think only 1903s had rifle grenade launchers early in the war also

[Chantry]

1 hour ago, Pat Riot said:

I thought the Marines in the Pacific started out with 1903s 

 

 

They did, partly because the USMC had a lower priority for equipment and partly because the senior leadership in the USMC felt that as "Every Marine was a rifleman" the 1903 was a better rifle.  To be fair, I suppose many of us would have questioned whether a new semi-automatic rifle, untested in combat, was superior to a bolt action rifle that had repeatedly proven itself in combat.

 

A story is that when the 164th Infantry Regiment of the US Army National Guard landed on Guadalcanal, armed with M-1 Garand's, any rifles left unattended or dropped if an Army soldier was wounded or killed, were picked up by Marines.  Pretty sure all Marines being deployed overseas after Guadalcanal were issued the M-1 Garands.

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

At the Battle of the Bulge, support troops were told to grab a rifle, both before and after the Third Army arrived.