The Luger And The Paramarine

“Buy the gun, not the story” is an old adage and a good rule to follow.  I’ve met, and discussed, army rifles with a number of vets who mentioned they carried a Singer M1.  Of course Singer didn’t make M1s.  Memories fade and the makers of the guns just weren’t important so they didn’t pay a lot of attention to the guns.  It’s normally best to buy the gun.  Sometimes the stories can be better.

Some time ago a local auction notice was posted and it included a trapdoor and a Smith-Corona M-1903.  Also a “Lugar.”  In spite of the mis-spelling it’d be kind of cool to look at the Luger as I didn’t have one.  When I arrived at the auction it was about 3 hours before the guns sold.  Estate auctions are bittersweet affairs as they’re held to sell of the possessions of the recently deceased.  Wandering around the stuff a clear picture of the former owner emerged; much of it helped by some school binders.  The binders clearly belonged to a school girl during WW2.  She’d written, in the binder, addresses of the older kids as they’d gone off to service.  She had two older brothers - one a torpedo bomber pilot and the other a Paramarine.  The progress of both could be tracked via the changing addresses in the binder covers.  The Navy flight manuals for the pilot were in one of the boxes at the auction.  The pilot was the recently deceased.

When I wandered over for another look at the guns I took a good look at the trapdoor and the Luger.  The Smith-Corona was nowhere to be seen.  As I was looking at the guns a young boy came up and started handling the guns.  An older gentleman near the table told the kid to be careful.  I asked that gentleman if he had known the former owner.  “Yes, these were my brother’s guns.”  So here was the Paramarine.  We talked at some length about his, and his brother’s, service.  While home after being injured on Bougainville he’d visited with a buddy - the buddy having been injured in the ETO.  The Paramarine received the Luger from that buddy.  After another tour in the Pacific the Paramarine had returned home after the war and gave the Luger to the pilot.

“Buy the gun, not the story.”  I bought both.  I took the Luger and the trapdoor home with me.  Also the lot with the binders.  The binders will stay with the Luger.  They tell the story of how the war touched a family in a very small town in America.  If I ever need to send the Paramarine a letter I have his address in San Diego.  I just need a time machine: