Gov't 1911 - Bastogne pickup

[Djay3]

The 13 closeup photos will reveal the chilling shrapnel damage ...

http://www.guns.com/2015/12/21/this-shrapnel-damaged-m1911-is-relic-from-battle-of-the-bulge-13-photos/

[surfabilly]

thank you for posting this.

[nightrunner]

Wow. Just wow.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

thank you for posting this.

x2. Amazing to look at.

[LI0NSFAN]

Thanks for sharing.

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[Pete123]

Thanks for sharing.  Hopefully, the soldier survived and wasn't completely mangled up.

[hipower]

Sometimes we forget. This will make you remember.

 

An awesome and chilling series of photos.

[Caster]

Can it still be shot?  I reckon from the deeper gouges and piercings it may have some cycling issues?

[oldman]

Thanks.

Edited December 23, 2015 by oldman

[E4 No More]

Daaaamnnn!

[TacoBubba]

Thanks for sharing

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[Grayfox54]

Absolutely amazing. I just don't have the words. 

[spurge]

Thanks for sharing.

[E4 No More]

You know, the majority of those marks look like he got an airburst from the front. The deep ones look like they may have been while it was laying on the ground. Still, the force that it took to make those is incredible considering the size of the anti-personnel rounds. When I was in the Marine Corps before we re-tubed to 8" Howitzer, the 175mm rounds would fragment into shrapnel the size of my thumb. The 8" would break-up into plates. I remember visiting the FO position and watching the plates from the 8" skip across the ground powdering the granite as they went.

Edited December 28, 2015 by SWJewellTN

[phiferran]

"Often times we get so caught up in the gun we forget the sacrifices."

Thank you for posting this. The quote above really hit home.




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[btq96r]

That pistol should be in a museum somewhere.  It's the definition of a gun with a story to tell.

[Djay3]

Related to The Battle of Bastogne - two buddies from the Band of Brothers (101st Airborne) wrote their own memoir that is a remarkable account of their European Theater tour including Bastogne. I'm sure many here have already read it.

Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends by "Wild Bill" Guenere and "Babe" Heffron

http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Battle-Friends-William-Guarnere-ebook/dp/B001EUTO9S/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1451325240&sr=1-1&keywords=brothers+in+battle+best+of+friends

"Wild Bill" lost a leg at Bastogne trying to save a buddy. Edited December 28, 2015 by Djay3