JSAR used in Guadalcanal

[Alasdair MacDonald 0]

FYI, for those who are NRA members and receive the "American Rifleman", August edition, on page 55 it shows a nice picture of a JSAR with bayonet. The article is The Guns of Guadalcanal used by the 1st Marine Parachute Battalion. Very nice!

[ArtR 0]

Thanks, Alisdair:

I got my magazine early this week and read that article. The article, while short, was sort of informative. I was truly unclear, at the end, that there was actual proof that the 'actual rifle' had provenance that it was used on Guadalcanal or not, or if it was just an illustration  of JSAR's that might have  been used. Being a long time reader of this forum, forgive me for being a bit skeptical on certain claims.

ArtR

[eb in oregon 0]

1 hour ago, ArtR said:

Thanks, Alisdair:

I got my magazine early this week and read that article. The article, while short, was sort of informative. I was truly unclear, at the end, that there was actual proof that the 'actual rifle' had provenance that it was used on Guadalcanal or not, or if it was just an illustration  of JSAR's that might have  been used. Being a long time reader of this forum, forgive me for being a bit skeptical on certain claims.

ArtR

I believe it was supposed to be an example picture, not a definitive picture of an actual rifle used on Guadalcanal. 

[Ed Johnson 0]

Yes, I agree that it was a "sample" rifle and not an actual piece. But there were a few that were actually used for that purpose. As we know, the Marines, in general, did use a larger quantity of '41 JLMGs, along with the Special Forces, as opposed to the JSARs..

In any case, the description of usage on Gavutu and Guadalcanal is covered on pp132, 133 and later, in the book Johnson Rifles and Machine Guns.

 

[Alasdair MacDonald 0]

"For the what its worth topic"; In the early 1970's I was attending a gun show in Sacramento California, when I walked up to a table that had a JSAR for sale. As I admired it an elderly large man came up behind me and exclaimed, "Oh my God!" I asked him if he was familiar with this rifle and he said "yes", "I carried one in the South Pacific for a short time before they took them away from us". I asked him where he was in the Pacific and with whom. He said he was with the First Marines in Bougainville.l I asked him how he liked the rifle and he said all those who had them loved them. Cordially, Alasdair

[ArtR 0]

One of those times, in retrospect, where one wishes that they had the insight to have asked the person to write the information down and sign it. I had one a about 20 years back, where I was talking with a WWII/Korean War vet, and now totally wish that I had convinced him to write his stories down. So much personal history lost.