Fighting handguns of WWII: heroes, their hardware and the American fighting spirit

American Handgunner, March-April, 2003 by Clint Smith

The Pacific theater flyers faired no better in many cases. Air strikes flown from Saipan to Iwo Jima meant ten-hour flights over the vast loneliness of the Pacific Ocean. Not a big deal, unless the number two engine is feathered, the hydraulics and fuel tanks are leaking and waist gunner is bleeding from flak injuries. At best, they could crash-land upon arriving back at Saipan. At worst, there awaited a salt-water ocean filled quickly by enemy ships and patrolling sharks.

Modest Heros, All

Walking into Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri on VJ day, C.W. Staples--recently of the 44th Bomb Group, 68th Squadron, 8th Army Air Force--wore the decorations appropriate to a B-24 tail gunner with forty combat missions. The 31-year-old Sergeant, considered an "old man" by that day's standards, wore a Bronze Star with cluster, Air Medal with four Oak Leafs, Distinguished Unit Citation and numerous other awards on his blouse. Shot from the sky three times over Europe, the now spry 90 year old quietly, almost bashfully, recalls his service. He declares, "I did nothing compared to guys who lost their lives." In my humble opinion, I disagree.

Sgt. Staples carried two Remington-Rand 1911A1 pistols on every mission--one in a shoulder holster and the other stuffed inside his flight boot. This method of carry survived a parachute jump from a burning B-24 over Fortress Europe. When asked why he carried two he smiled and said, "Because I couldn't think of a way to carry three pistols and I couldn't figure out a way to get my fifty caliber guns out of the damn turret and carry them and the ammo. I wasn't a particularly good pistol shot, but carrying the pistols was in a word--comforting".

Continuing he declared "I was not going to go quietly if captured." Probably a good idea, as on more than one occasion American aircrew members were attacked and killed by German civilians after bailing out over German soil.

In a scary-as-hell-itself moment, Sgt. Staples recalled, "It was December 28, 1944. The target was Kaiserslautern, Germany and they had shot the hell out of us. Van Dyke, my pilot, was struggling to keep 'it' in the air. We had bad damage and when I say bad, I mean I could look outside through holes big enough to fling a basketball. We were on fire and loosing altitude. We ended up crash-landing on a Luftwaffe base in Merville, Belgium. We sat down hard, and I ran like hell. I had two .45s--one in a shoulder holster and the one, from my boot, was in my hand. I wasn't a good shot but it was damn comforting to have it in my hand. Fortunately, the British had taken the airfield shortly before our unscheduled visit."

By the way the "tail gunner" still works everyday and shoots skeet, clays or hunts every weekend. Good for him.

Some Final Thoughts

Most documentation shows the 1911 pistol and it's variants as being the most prolific handgun used by Americans in combat. But, there are plenty of documented photographs showing revolvers smack-dab in the middle of combat. For instance, there is a dramatic photo taken at Tarawa showing a Marine approaching a bunker area entrance with a 1917 Smith & Wesson .45 caliber revolver. It's cocked