Cosine26
03-07-2012, 07:59
THE KNIFE
During WWII I was in Ships Pool at Newport Rhode Island awaiting assignment to new constructions. I was walking down a walkway between two barracks when a knife landed at my feet. From the second story of one of the barracks I heard a loud voice yell: “Don’t you ever pull a knife on me you SOB!†I picked the knife up, stuck it under my pea coat and walked away. When I examined the knife later in my barracks, I found it to be a well used knife with the letters USMC on the right side of the blade near the hilt. On the left side near the hilt it was marked KBAR Olean NY.
Some months later I had put a ship in commission at the Boston Navy Yard and we were undergoing pre-shakedown mini-cruises. During these mini-cruises we had a barge where we store excess material while we were at sea. After returning from one, we found that the barge had been looted. I went with my division officer to determine the extent of the loss. During the trip I found an empty knife scabbard marked USN MK 2 ion the front side and NORD BM Co. on the reverse side. Stamped crudely on the front and back of the composite sheath were stamped the notation “S 19†indicating that it had belonged to the â€S†division. I asked if I could have it and the division officer said yes. Now I had a sheath for my knife. I still have the knife and sheath.
During the Korean War, I flew 50 mission as Nav/Bomb in B-26’s. We were still using surplus WWII equipment. One of the items we used was a one-man life raft that served as a seat pack. (We wore back pack parachutes.) Occasionally one of these would just spontaneously inflate. An open life raft in a B-26 cockpit filled the cockpit fairly full. I carried this knife stuck in by flying boot , to stab the life raft in case it ever accidentally inflated. Fortunately it never happened. I still have the knife.
Just a sea story. Take if for what it’s worth.
During WWII I was in Ships Pool at Newport Rhode Island awaiting assignment to new constructions. I was walking down a walkway between two barracks when a knife landed at my feet. From the second story of one of the barracks I heard a loud voice yell: “Don’t you ever pull a knife on me you SOB!†I picked the knife up, stuck it under my pea coat and walked away. When I examined the knife later in my barracks, I found it to be a well used knife with the letters USMC on the right side of the blade near the hilt. On the left side near the hilt it was marked KBAR Olean NY.
Some months later I had put a ship in commission at the Boston Navy Yard and we were undergoing pre-shakedown mini-cruises. During these mini-cruises we had a barge where we store excess material while we were at sea. After returning from one, we found that the barge had been looted. I went with my division officer to determine the extent of the loss. During the trip I found an empty knife scabbard marked USN MK 2 ion the front side and NORD BM Co. on the reverse side. Stamped crudely on the front and back of the composite sheath were stamped the notation “S 19†indicating that it had belonged to the â€S†division. I asked if I could have it and the division officer said yes. Now I had a sheath for my knife. I still have the knife and sheath.
During the Korean War, I flew 50 mission as Nav/Bomb in B-26’s. We were still using surplus WWII equipment. One of the items we used was a one-man life raft that served as a seat pack. (We wore back pack parachutes.) Occasionally one of these would just spontaneously inflate. An open life raft in a B-26 cockpit filled the cockpit fairly full. I carried this knife stuck in by flying boot , to stab the life raft in case it ever accidentally inflated. Fortunately it never happened. I still have the knife.
Just a sea story. Take if for what it’s worth.