Post by goomba on Jan 8, 2011 23:10:58 GMT -5
The U.S. M1911 & The Medal of Honor
12/17/2010
Murvaux, France, Sept. 29, 1918. The blazing remains of three German observation balloons had barely settled to earth when their assailant force-landed in the gathering dusk. Second Lieutenant Frank Luke had taken off against orders and undoubtedly would be court-martialed upon return to the 27th Aero Squadron, but that was far from his mind. He had enjoyed a record string— 18 enemy aircraft destroyed in as many days. But now, wounded by German anti-aircraft fire, he landed his SPAD fighter, climbed from the cockpit, drew his service pistol, and chambered the first round. Losing blood and alone behind enemy lines, he hefted the Colt and perhaps took comfort from its familiar weight. The 21-year-old Arizonan was expert with the Model of 1911 U.S. Army, and he intended to use it.
Members of the German garrison grabbed their Mausers and advanced toward the SPAD. But Luke, the hot-headed aviator, was in no mood to surrender. When he thought he heard movement in the brush near a stream, he fired three rounds.
Moments later Luke was dead, Colt in hand, a long way from the reality of Phoenix and the heritage of Tombstone. After the Great War, which ended six weeks later, he received a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Luke was not the only member of the American Expeditionary Force to use the M1911 that day. Private Frank Gaffney of the 27th Infantry Division and Lt. Col. Fred Smith, a battalion commander in the 77th, both earned their nation’s highest award in actions involving John M. Browning’s masterpiece on Sept. 29. Smith’s award was posthumous.
In the seven years since the Army had adopted the M1911, the Colt had seen limited combat use. The big pistol had been carried by then-Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing’s troopers during the 1916 punitive expedition into Mexico, but no Medals resulted; however, once Americans were committed to combat in the Great War, John M. Browning’s classic began earning a stellar reputation.
www.americanrifleman.org/articles/us-m1911-medal-of-honor/
12/17/2010
Murvaux, France, Sept. 29, 1918. The blazing remains of three German observation balloons had barely settled to earth when their assailant force-landed in the gathering dusk. Second Lieutenant Frank Luke had taken off against orders and undoubtedly would be court-martialed upon return to the 27th Aero Squadron, but that was far from his mind. He had enjoyed a record string— 18 enemy aircraft destroyed in as many days. But now, wounded by German anti-aircraft fire, he landed his SPAD fighter, climbed from the cockpit, drew his service pistol, and chambered the first round. Losing blood and alone behind enemy lines, he hefted the Colt and perhaps took comfort from its familiar weight. The 21-year-old Arizonan was expert with the Model of 1911 U.S. Army, and he intended to use it.
Members of the German garrison grabbed their Mausers and advanced toward the SPAD. But Luke, the hot-headed aviator, was in no mood to surrender. When he thought he heard movement in the brush near a stream, he fired three rounds.
Moments later Luke was dead, Colt in hand, a long way from the reality of Phoenix and the heritage of Tombstone. After the Great War, which ended six weeks later, he received a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Luke was not the only member of the American Expeditionary Force to use the M1911 that day. Private Frank Gaffney of the 27th Infantry Division and Lt. Col. Fred Smith, a battalion commander in the 77th, both earned their nation’s highest award in actions involving John M. Browning’s masterpiece on Sept. 29. Smith’s award was posthumous.
In the seven years since the Army had adopted the M1911, the Colt had seen limited combat use. The big pistol had been carried by then-Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing’s troopers during the 1916 punitive expedition into Mexico, but no Medals resulted; however, once Americans were committed to combat in the Great War, John M. Browning’s classic began earning a stellar reputation.
www.americanrifleman.org/articles/us-m1911-medal-of-honor/