So, there I was in Bosnia as part of MND (SW)--part of our duties included finding caches of weapons and destroying them. Found stuff the US air-dropped into Yugoslavia for the fight against the Germans; like never fired Thompson SMGs (they still had the factory grease in them) complete with four 20-round magazines and 100 rounds of ammo still in the heavy duty wax paper they used back in WW2. They destroyed those guns by driving a tractor continuously over them. A lot of US soldiers who were tasked to witness the destruction were really broken hearted.
When I was a little kid, dad took me to work for some reason. We wound up in the back room. The armory. I saw four of these in a rack with the stick mags. My eyes caressed them carefully. Nothing looks like a Tommy. There were all kinds of other things in there. I think I remember a gas gun. One of those odd Federal ones. I asked dad later if they'd mind if I borrowed one of the Thompsons. He said they wouldn't like that much. Shucks.
That Federal gas gun showed up in the news a few years later. They had a barricaded guy and they decided to smoke him out. A captain decided he was the gunner on the Federal. He took it from the trained officer and proceeded to lob a gas round over the roof and into the patrol cars on the other side of the house. He couldn't hand it back quick enough. I don't remember if the next round set the house on fire, but it seems it did. Any way....
You know that is the real deal by the short barrel. I had a legal version, the ergonomics suck and it weighs more than a Garand. One with a giggle switch would be worth putting up with.
So, there I was in Bosnia as part of MND (SW)--part of our duties included finding caches of weapons and destroying them. Found stuff the US air-dropped into Yugoslavia for the fight against the Germans; like never fired Thompson SMGs (they still had the factory grease in them) complete with four 20-round magazines and 100 rounds of ammo still in the heavy duty wax paper they used back in WW2. They destroyed those guns by driving a tractor continuously over them. A lot of US soldiers who were tasked to witness the destruction were really broken hearted.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a little kid, dad took me to work for some reason. We wound up in the back room. The armory. I saw four of these in a rack with the stick mags. My eyes caressed them carefully. Nothing looks like a Tommy. There were all kinds of other things in there. I think I remember a gas gun. One of those odd Federal ones. I asked dad later if they'd mind if I borrowed one of the Thompsons. He said they wouldn't like that much. Shucks.
ReplyDeleteThat Federal gas gun showed up in the news a few years later. They had a barricaded guy and they decided to smoke him out. A captain decided he was the gunner on the Federal. He took it from the trained officer and proceeded to lob a gas round over the roof and into the patrol cars on the other side of the house. He couldn't hand it back quick enough. I don't remember if the next round set the house on fire, but it seems it did. Any way....
I always wanted Thompson. Still do.
Merry Christmas ya Filthie animal.
ReplyDeleteI own a legal one: once you go full auto, you never go back....
ReplyDeleteYou don’t have to come back
DeleteYou know that is the real deal by the short barrel. I had a legal version, the ergonomics suck and it weighs more than a Garand. One with a giggle switch would be worth putting up with.
ReplyDeleteFriend of my Dad's inherited a old relative's home somewhere in the midwest USA and found one of these in the attic in an old suitcase.. Lucky dawg...
ReplyDelete- WDS