Pics The Real Deal with No Paper...WWII

[echo1]

Hi Cordite Lovers,

Another paperless bolt gun I have is an Arisaka T38, actually a weapon I'm very close to. My uncle Al gave it to me in 1960. He liberated it when they came ashore on New Guinea. He, my pops and other relatives were in the 1st Filipino regiment. My auntie didn't like it in her house because it had killed Filipinos and had bad "auntang-auntang", Filipino juju. My uncle Al was an Alamo Scout. He and two other Pinoys in the unit could speak Japanese when most Filipinos couldn't. Those 3 soldiers were snuck ashore by sub on Leyte. The locals arranged for them to work in the Japanese officer's mess and the intel they gathered was vital to the invasion of Leyte. My pops was a staff Seargent responsible for 2 rifle squads in support of 2 water cooled Browning 1917s. The T38 my uncle gave me met a terrible out come at my hands. Like a dumb kid I sporterized it chopping it to pieces. It happened to be cut to short rifle length and I've been slowly converting it to a short rifle. It's the 3rd rifle in this group of Arisakas. Just below the first T38 is my dad's Bolo.

Uncle Al at 98 years old and my cousin Mike (ex-Marine) receiving a Presidential Unit Citation at the Persido in the City a decade ago. That's the unit's patch on his lapel and cap. He passed a couple years later. PAX

 

[Malibu]

Hats off to those brave Filipinos who fought against the Japanese in their homeland. A friend of many years of ours is a 98+ year-old woman who (according to her late husband, and surviving sons) participated in the Filipino resistance, and in the course of such activities killed a good number of the enemy and their supporters. Her favored weapon was reported to me as some type of fixed-blade knife, and a spear. What was done to her parents, brothers, and other family by the occupying enemy forces is something I won’t write about, as this isn’t the place.
I do like your collection.

 

[echo1]

Hats off to those brave Filipinos who fought against the Japanese in their homeland. A friend of many years of ours is a 98+ year-old woman who (according to her late husband, and surviving sons) participated in the Filipino resistance, and in the course of such activities killed a good number of the enemy and their supporters. Her favored weapon was reported to me as some type of fixed-blade knife, and a spear. What was done to her parents, brothers, and other family by the occupying enemy forces is something I won’t write about, as this isn’t the place.
I do like your collection.

Thanks, hard to imagine what savagery they had to cope with.
My Pops told me that the preferred weapon to dispatch the Japanese was the Bolo. I still have his, it's below the first rifle. PAX

 

[Malibu]

That Bolo pictured above is a priceless family heirloom to be cherished. Hopefully your kids will value it as well.
I’m fortunate in that our family collection of neat stuff used in armed conflict of that era is of key interest to my adult kids, so I rest easy knowing that it is well taken care of.
Your uncle was a genuine 100% man, who more than earned his card the real way. That is what makes America the best country on earth, despite what woke politicians are trying to do.

 

[echo1]

That Bolo pictured above is a priceless family heirloom to be cherished. Hopefully your kids will value it as well.
I’m fortunate in that our family collection of neat stuff used in armed conflict of that era is of key interest to my adult kids, so I rest easy knowing that it is well taken care of.
Your uncle was a genuine 100% man, who more than earned his card the real way. That is what makes America the best country on earth, despite what woke politicians are trying to do.

Well said. My 2 surviving boys, 45 & 39, know they're Pinoy and are WWII junkies, especially for flying machines. They know family blood was spilled. Thier entire lives growing up much time was spent touring the various air museums up and down Kali and going to the vast number of airshows that there used to be. I can't tell you how many PB&J sammiches were eaten in the shade under the wings of prop job warbirds at Castle AFB. I had a Ford van that seated 12. I'd load up a crew of my 3 boys and each brought friends, and we'd be off, to swimmin holes too!!! Good times great memories, PAX