Buck
11-24-07, 14:36
This is the story of a United States Marine Corps 1911A1 pistol. The first half of its life is a mystery. It was born in the spring of 1972 in Hartford Connecticut under the old dome. It was not intended for war, so it was given a high polish blue finish, and sharply checkered walnut grips with golden medallions. It was part of the new breed of Colt 1911s, and added to its simple name of COLT’S GOVERNMENT MODEL, was the new name MKIV Series 70. To go along with the new name, it also had a new style of flared barrel and collet bushing. To its makers it was known only as 70G28355.
Anything could have happened to this pistol, and it surely changed hands many times. During the rainy season of 1988, this Colt pistol had found it’s way to Queson City, in the Republic of the Philippines. That is where I found it, in that far away land. I was assigned to MAR BKS Subic Bay, and the word had come down that all of our 1911A1s were going to be replaced by the new M9s in a month or two. Just as soon as they were finished refitting the 3rd Mar Div on Okinawa with their new M9s, we were next. I did not care much for the reported stopping power of the new M9 pistol, loaded with 9mm ball ammunition. Visions of charging Moro’s armed with bolo knives decapitating Marines during the Insurrection kept dancing through my head.
The first half of its life had been hard. The once brightly polished blue had thinned and started to turn brown. There were some nicks in the slide and frame that had gone through the finish to the bare metal. The heavily salted tropical air had been allowed to attack the bare metal over a prolonged amount of time and this left a few pits in the frame where the finish had been removed. The checkered walnut Colt medallion grips were long gone, and a poorly fitted pair of caribou horn grips had been put in their place. The mainspring housing was drilled and a pin was driven between it and the grip safety to disable it. The original aluminum trigger had three lightening holes added to it with what must have been an auger bit. The rest on thumb safety had been cut off and a large extended thumb rest had been welded in its place. The hammer was also welded and filed and drilled in what could only be described as a poor attempt to convert it to some sort of a early light weight commander style.
One previous owner had even decided to take a 10 penny nail and poorly scratch a ½ inch high scrawling on the right side of the slide. He had scratched “NM 1937” through the thinning highly polished original finish.
My new Colt had good bones and a fine heritage, but it had been abused, and neglected by its former owners. Now however, It was no longer a civilian, this Colt had joined the Marine Corps at 16 years of age, and as the Corps does with all its new recruits at MCRD, or Paris Island, it was broken down and then built back up as a Marine.
A friendly visit to the Squidilly Didilly armorer at SPECWAR 1 Subic, combined with a few Red Horses at Top Gun, and the paying of a bar fine for a dancer known only as “The Snake Lady”, entitled me to Cadillac service from their weapons shop. The Rust Chippers at SPECWAR stripped away all of the years of abuse and neglect. The Colt was completely disassembled and inspected. The broken, bent, filed, pinned, cracked, or welded parts were discarded and new USGI parts took their place. The nicks and pits were all filed smoothed. This Colt was now ready for its new Marine Corps finish and it was given a fresh coat of parkerization, new in the wrapper GI Colt-wood checkered grips, and a brand spanking new USGI 1911 magazine.
The 16 year old from Hartford had been transformed from a civilian, to a Marine in just a few days. As a Marine, it went on patrol for the New Peoples Army in the triple canopy jungles of the Naval Magazine at Cubi Point, and helped relieve the US Embassy in Manila during the coup in 1989. It saw service the deserts of Kuwait and Iraq, and was there to help capture the Iraqi Parachute Regiment on Failaka Island.
In September of 1991, after the Gulf War had ended, this Colt left the Marine Corps and has been living the life of an honored Marine war veteran ever since. It still takes an occasional trip to Camp Pendelton every now and then, just to relive some of its past glories, and remember when in a far away land, it was a Marine in harms way.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-1/88649/1911a.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-1/88649/1911r.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-1/88649/1911l.jpg
Anything could have happened to this pistol, and it surely changed hands many times. During the rainy season of 1988, this Colt pistol had found it’s way to Queson City, in the Republic of the Philippines. That is where I found it, in that far away land. I was assigned to MAR BKS Subic Bay, and the word had come down that all of our 1911A1s were going to be replaced by the new M9s in a month or two. Just as soon as they were finished refitting the 3rd Mar Div on Okinawa with their new M9s, we were next. I did not care much for the reported stopping power of the new M9 pistol, loaded with 9mm ball ammunition. Visions of charging Moro’s armed with bolo knives decapitating Marines during the Insurrection kept dancing through my head.
The first half of its life had been hard. The once brightly polished blue had thinned and started to turn brown. There were some nicks in the slide and frame that had gone through the finish to the bare metal. The heavily salted tropical air had been allowed to attack the bare metal over a prolonged amount of time and this left a few pits in the frame where the finish had been removed. The checkered walnut Colt medallion grips were long gone, and a poorly fitted pair of caribou horn grips had been put in their place. The mainspring housing was drilled and a pin was driven between it and the grip safety to disable it. The original aluminum trigger had three lightening holes added to it with what must have been an auger bit. The rest on thumb safety had been cut off and a large extended thumb rest had been welded in its place. The hammer was also welded and filed and drilled in what could only be described as a poor attempt to convert it to some sort of a early light weight commander style.
One previous owner had even decided to take a 10 penny nail and poorly scratch a ½ inch high scrawling on the right side of the slide. He had scratched “NM 1937” through the thinning highly polished original finish.
My new Colt had good bones and a fine heritage, but it had been abused, and neglected by its former owners. Now however, It was no longer a civilian, this Colt had joined the Marine Corps at 16 years of age, and as the Corps does with all its new recruits at MCRD, or Paris Island, it was broken down and then built back up as a Marine.
A friendly visit to the Squidilly Didilly armorer at SPECWAR 1 Subic, combined with a few Red Horses at Top Gun, and the paying of a bar fine for a dancer known only as “The Snake Lady”, entitled me to Cadillac service from their weapons shop. The Rust Chippers at SPECWAR stripped away all of the years of abuse and neglect. The Colt was completely disassembled and inspected. The broken, bent, filed, pinned, cracked, or welded parts were discarded and new USGI parts took their place. The nicks and pits were all filed smoothed. This Colt was now ready for its new Marine Corps finish and it was given a fresh coat of parkerization, new in the wrapper GI Colt-wood checkered grips, and a brand spanking new USGI 1911 magazine.
The 16 year old from Hartford had been transformed from a civilian, to a Marine in just a few days. As a Marine, it went on patrol for the New Peoples Army in the triple canopy jungles of the Naval Magazine at Cubi Point, and helped relieve the US Embassy in Manila during the coup in 1989. It saw service the deserts of Kuwait and Iraq, and was there to help capture the Iraqi Parachute Regiment on Failaka Island.
In September of 1991, after the Gulf War had ended, this Colt left the Marine Corps and has been living the life of an honored Marine war veteran ever since. It still takes an occasional trip to Camp Pendelton every now and then, just to relive some of its past glories, and remember when in a far away land, it was a Marine in harms way.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-1/88649/1911a.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-1/88649/1911r.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-1/88649/1911l.jpg