For Bryan;

I spent from Thanksgiving '69 to Christmas Eve '70 "In Country" with the 1st Cav Division as a 45B20(aka:Small Arms Repair Specialist) and was promoted to being the Division Small Arm Inspector about half way through my Tour - somebody had to get stuck with the Job.

When I arrived "In Country" and completed my week at the "First Team Academy" I was assigned to a place called Phuoc Vinh(aka:'Forward Area') while the rest of the 45B20s stayed in Bein Hoa(aka:'Rear Area') and these guys were true REMFs. When I arrived I was assigned as the NCOIC of the Small Arms Shop - for those who don't know it; in those days the Army considered anything from a .22rf to a 106MM Recoilless Rifle to be a "small arm" but before long I ended up being in charge of the entire 'Weapons Shop' which include Artillery and Fire Control Devices(early Computers).

Now, back to the subject of the original Post. I also found 11 Conex containers which were stacked from floor to ceiling with small arms of all sorts. One particular container was filled to pretty much over flowing with handguns of pretty much all shapes and sizes and conditions. I had been "trained" on the Smith & Wesson Model 10(had also purchased my 1st one of these before I left the CZ) and Model 15 during my time in Maryland and there were literally "bunches and bunches" of these. I also found a very nice S&W .357 Magnum "N" Frame with a 5 inch barrel. It soon became my personal "open carry gun" while I was around the Company area. I had managed to 'modify' a holster for a Victory Model to fit my new Magnum. I had a very good friend who would ship me a box of Magnums to me each month so I had something good to shoot in it at least, once in a while! The rest of the time I shot the standard issue Military 130grain, .38 Special Hardball. It was accurate enough but certainly not what you'd call a real "killer" of a round on the other end.

The '68GCA had been past by this time and the Army had decided that no personal firearms would be allowed to be returned to the US. It seems that someone had determined that this was part of the '68 Law. Before I left the Smith got damaged and was finally torn down for parts. At 19 I didn't know much about handguns probably because we never had one at home when I was a kid - rifles and shotguns but no handguns except for my .22 caliber pellet gun which I managed to shoot as much as I could afford.

Whatever happened to all those gun I don't know. The one thing I do know is I never got around to destroying them which is what I had been told to do when I arrived.

Except for the Model 10s and 15s - most of these were all US Property marked - the bulk of the revolvers seemed to be in .357 Magnum but we did have a couple of .44 and .41 Magnums and at least one .44 Special but I didn't have any real interest in these. There were also some old 1917s - both Colts and S&Ws - but we didn't have access to half moon clips and the full moon clips were still in the 'idea' stage. Besides, my 1911A1 was all the .45ACP I needed in those days.