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Couple of 1911a1s with Vet Provenance

2K views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  Red 
#1 ·
I am always looking for guns with vet provenance and thought I would share two of my favorites here. Both are from Army Air Corps pilots and came with shoulder holsters named to the respective vet. Both pilots were awarded the Distinquished Flying Cross. I was able to acquire additional information on each which I wrote up in a summary of their service as well as historical information on the bomb groups which they served with. Hope you enjoy them as much as I have:

1. Remington Rand w/ Type 2 slide address Serial 979815. Carried by Louis Riefler, who was a B-26 pilot who served with the 439th Bombardment Sqd. Lt. Riefler was awarded the DFC for action over Sardinia, Italy in June of 1943.

2. Ithaca Serial 883845. Carried by Daniel Cullen, who was a B-17 pilot who served with the 332nd Bombardment Sqd. Lt. Cullen was awarded the DFC upon completion of 25 missions in March of 1944
 

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#2 ·
Cullen's Ithaca
 

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#7 ·
I appreciate all the feedback and compliments. As they say, "buy the gun and not the story" and that is exactly what I did. Each of these was acquired without any emphasis being placed by the seller on the name attached to the gun. In fact, they generally didn't even bother to mention the name at all and there was no extra "premium" placed on the price due to the name/history. All of the vet information was obtained by myself from research that I conducted after the acquisition.

I was hesitant to even put these out there as you always get the naysayers who feel that there is no evidence to support any of the vet provenance. That is what happened on another forum that I no longer participate on with this next one that I will list. Seems like some of the "experts" there would rather belittle or down grade your items than to appreciate the history behind them, and the work that it took to research it. Anyway, enough of my rant.....

Here is another Remington Rand, Type 2 slide address, carried by Private Clarence Bell. Pvt Bell served with the 30th Infantry Division and was wounded in action by artillery fire in Belgium, in September of 1944. When I purchased this pistol, the seller (from Maryland) mentioned that he "had the holster that it came with" as an after thought and that he purchased it from one of the vet's relatives. He told me that all he got was the vet's name and the rig (which contained the vet's laundry number penned on the inside of the holster flap), but that was all I needed to do my research.

Why a simple private was issued with a sidearm, how he got it home after being wounded, and all of those questions that the doubters would love to pick apart...my only answer is that I don't know. But everything ties together and I am 110% convinced that this weapon was indeed carried by Pvt Clarence Bell. Again, I didn't buy the story, but instead bought the pistol. Enjoy!
 

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#17 ·
....Why a simple private was issued with a sidearm, how he got it home after being wounded, and all of those questions that the doubters would love to pick apart...my only answer is that I don't know. But everything ties together and I am 110% convinced that this weapon was indeed carried by Pvt Clarence Bell. Again, I didn't buy the story, but instead bought the pistol. Enjoy!
There were many positions in a WW2 infantry company where a mere private was issued a pistol : for example : light machine gun gunner and assistant gunner, mortar squad gunner and assistant gunner, bazooka gunner.
 
#9 ·
Here is some of the information that I found on Bell while researching him:

1. His original enlistment record which shows his serial number (the last 4 proceeded by "B" for Bell to derive the laundry number which is on the inside flap of the holster).

2. A copy of the medical record, showing his serial number and the wound to his thigh by artillery fire.

3. A copy of the 119th Regimental unit diary for Sept 7 - 12, where I have highlighted the entry stating that 1st Bn was receiving artillery fire.

4. An article from his hometown paper stating that he was WIA.
 

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