Here is a photo of my M1 Garand...built by the Springfield Armory in November of 1944. It is shown with an original M1942 16" bayonet and a M7 grenade launcher with fragmentation grenade holder and frag grenade.



The M1 Garand is officially designated as United States Rifle, Caliber .30, M1 and was the first gas-operated semi-automatic "en-bloc" clip-fed rifle to be generally issued to the infantry of any nation. Called "the greatest battle implement ever devised" by General George S. Patton, the Garand officially replaced the bolt-action M1903 Springfield as the standard service rifle of the United States Armed Forces in 1936 and was subsequently replaced by the selective fire M14 in 1957.

1943 ammo belt and some frag grenades

Here's the Garand my Pop has had for years...



The serial number tracks the date of manufacture to somewhere between June/July 1942...

A beautiful piece of history !!

Yes Sir!

Awesome SNIPER...!!

Here's a timeline of what was happening in June / July 1942, when your M1 was manufactured

June 1942

Date

18: Manhattan Project is started, the beginning of a scientific approach to nuclear weapons.
: Winston Churchill arrives in Washington for meetings with Roosevelt.
: The siege of Tobruk intensifies; some defending forces are pulled back to Egypt.
21: Afrika Korps recaptures Tobruk, with 35,000 men captured; the road to Egypt is now open as the British retreat deep into Egypt. Tobruk's loss is a grievous blow to British morale. German land forces have been assisted by Luftwaffe attacks.
23: Marsa Matruh, Egypt falls to Rommel, about 140 miles from Alexandria.
24: British fall back to El Alamein, 60 miles from Alexandria, for a "final stand".
25: General Eisenhower arrives in London ready to assume the post of Commander of American forces in Europe.
: Another massive "Thousand Bomber" raid, this time on Bremen; the raiders suffer grievous losses.
26: The Germans drive toward Rostov.
27: Doomed convoy PQ17 sets sail from Iceland; only 11 of 37 ships will survive.
28: Operation Blue, the German plan to capture Stalingrad and the Soviet Union oil fields in the Caucasus, begins. Generally, forces are shifted to the South.
30: Rommel reaches El Alamein.
: United States of America deploys II Corps to the European Theater.

July 1942

Date

1: First Battle of El Alamein begins as Rommel begins first assault on British defences.
: Sevastopol falls to the Germans; the end of Red Army resistance in the Crimea.
2: Churchill survives a censure motion in the House of Commons.
: Allies experience heavy June losses of shipping to U-boats, including those of PQ17.
3: Guadalcanal is now firmly in the hands of the Japanese.
4: First air missions by American Air Force in Europe.
11: Rommel's forces are now stalemated before El Alamein, largely because of a lack of ammunition.
17: Battle of Stalingrad begins

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Wow thanks Shooter, great info!