Rack Queens And Foreign Aid

With the fall of France, the British were in desperate straits.  The British Isles were the Germans for the taking.  That the Germans were disinclined to seriously attempt such a feat is clear.  The British claim it was a few brave men in Spitfires and Hurricanes.  Myself, I believe it was pre-war visits by Germans foolish enough to try the local cuisine.  Regardless the ammunition lockers in America were emptied to re-arm the Brits.  A million M-1917 rifles were sent.  Outside of that there wasn’t just much in the locker.  New production M1 Garands were sent.  Two batches for a total of about 58,000 rifles.  Not insignificant.  The first batch were in the 300,000 range with the second batch being in the 500,000 range.  This rifle is in the 300,000 range.  This was one of the rifles sent.  The rear sight was repaired with a “lock-bar” and the rear handguard was also replaced.  Outside of that it pretty much sat in a rack.  Along with the rest of the 58,000 Garands.  Red paint stripes were applied on the hand-guard (traces remain) to denote the “peculiar” caliber as the guns weren’t in .303.  The USMC went ashore at Guadalcanal with M-1903 rifles while brand new Garands were sitting in racks in England.  One suspects the food sent was put to better use.

I wonder if the shipping records still exist.  These must have been shipped right about the time, if not after, the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

The former owner painted the sight white.  He didn’t fire it much in the 37 years he owned it.  I know this as we discussed the rifle at length after I bought it.  The return trip from England was circa 1960.  The Birmingham proof dates it.

All during what was perhaps the biggest war in history these rifles sat in racks.  Maybe we should have sent clubs instead.