RM Vivas
US Veteran
Magnum Musings – A Spicy Magnum
Perusing the S&WHF archives, one finds letters that may have been pretty nondescript or run of the mill at the time they were written, but time and history put a spin on them and today those letters can be pretty dang interesting.
The Registered Magnum was, of course, the preeminent gun of the 1930’s and it’s inevitable that a few of them made their way into the Second World War. However, there is rather little documentation on specific Magnums having been carried into battle. We are all familiar with Patton’s RM (RM506/47022), and I believe the Roettinger Magnum (62485) is mentioned in some correspondence as having seen some action. Generally speaking though, there is very little documentation of a specific Magnum having been in combat.
And then there is RM1982/51785. RM1982 went to a dealer in Los Angeles in 1937 and eventually wound up in the hands of Walter Stauffer “Tabasco Mac” McIlhenny. And yes, that’s McIlhenny as in McIlhenny Tabasco Sauce; the same stuff we used to get the miniature bottles of in our MREs!
In 1942, “Tabasco Mac” picked up a Navy Cross and a Silver Star on Guadalcanal (he also tagged a Purple Heart with one star!) while teaching the Japanese some manners. In 1944 he was home for a bit and decided to send in his Registered Magnum for a little tune-up.
S&W acknowledged receipt of the gun and advised him of the charges of $5.60, which he promptly sent. The payment was accompanied by this marvelous letter wherein MAJ (later BRG GEN) McIlhenny runs down the list of campaigns that he or MAJ “Hank” Adams carried the Registered Magnum on. When he relates “…the score to its credit would look well in any slow fire fifty-yard match…” it seems pretty clear that this gun got on the real-life scoreboard.
Should anyone doubt the up-close-and-personal nature of the work “Tabasco Mac” was engaged in, his helmet, with a dent from a sword strike and the sword that delivered the strike, are on display at the National World War Two Museum in New Orleans, LA. There is no mention of what became of the sword wielder, but it shouldn’t take much imagination to figure it out.
Link to the Wikipedia page on “Tabasco Mac” who was, of course, a Marine.
"Tabasco Mac" Wikipedia entry
Stuff like this wouldn’t see the light of day without the efforts of the fine folks at the S&WHF; are you a member?
Join: S&WHF Membership Link
Best,
RM Vivas
EDITED TO ADD: Hank Adams was a CPT in the 1st Raiders and went on to the5th Marines.
Raiders Page
Perusing the S&WHF archives, one finds letters that may have been pretty nondescript or run of the mill at the time they were written, but time and history put a spin on them and today those letters can be pretty dang interesting.
The Registered Magnum was, of course, the preeminent gun of the 1930’s and it’s inevitable that a few of them made their way into the Second World War. However, there is rather little documentation on specific Magnums having been carried into battle. We are all familiar with Patton’s RM (RM506/47022), and I believe the Roettinger Magnum (62485) is mentioned in some correspondence as having seen some action. Generally speaking though, there is very little documentation of a specific Magnum having been in combat.
And then there is RM1982/51785. RM1982 went to a dealer in Los Angeles in 1937 and eventually wound up in the hands of Walter Stauffer “Tabasco Mac” McIlhenny. And yes, that’s McIlhenny as in McIlhenny Tabasco Sauce; the same stuff we used to get the miniature bottles of in our MREs!
In 1942, “Tabasco Mac” picked up a Navy Cross and a Silver Star on Guadalcanal (he also tagged a Purple Heart with one star!) while teaching the Japanese some manners. In 1944 he was home for a bit and decided to send in his Registered Magnum for a little tune-up.
S&W acknowledged receipt of the gun and advised him of the charges of $5.60, which he promptly sent. The payment was accompanied by this marvelous letter wherein MAJ (later BRG GEN) McIlhenny runs down the list of campaigns that he or MAJ “Hank” Adams carried the Registered Magnum on. When he relates “…the score to its credit would look well in any slow fire fifty-yard match…” it seems pretty clear that this gun got on the real-life scoreboard.
Should anyone doubt the up-close-and-personal nature of the work “Tabasco Mac” was engaged in, his helmet, with a dent from a sword strike and the sword that delivered the strike, are on display at the National World War Two Museum in New Orleans, LA. There is no mention of what became of the sword wielder, but it shouldn’t take much imagination to figure it out.
Link to the Wikipedia page on “Tabasco Mac” who was, of course, a Marine.
"Tabasco Mac" Wikipedia entry
Stuff like this wouldn’t see the light of day without the efforts of the fine folks at the S&WHF; are you a member?
Join: S&WHF Membership Link
Best,
RM Vivas
EDITED TO ADD: Hank Adams was a CPT in the 1st Raiders and went on to the5th Marines.
Raiders Page
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