Magnum Musings - The Excessively Informative Corporal and NRM#62091

[RM Vivas]

The Excessively Informative Corporal and NRM#62091

Amongst the amusing letters and such that I stumble across within the SWHF archives is this one.

25-year old Corporal James A. Mayhew ordered and received NRM #62091 in August 1940. He received everything with it except the Registration card.

He wrote to S&W and asked that a card be sent so that the gun could be registered in his name and, to prove his bona fides, included not just his name and address but also his physical description AND FINGERPRINTS.
This may seem excessive but to anyone whose been in the Corps, it’s perfectly logical.



I love the way Mr. Bassett responds with “… we will dispense with the hokus pocus in view of your very complete information…”

The gun, by the way, was a 6.500” barrelled model.

Stuff like this would never see the light of day without folks supporting The Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation; you're a member, aren't you?

Best,
RM Vivas

 

[murphydog]

Cool information, thanks!

Any mention how a 25 year old Marine E-4 could afford an NRM?

 

[SS336]

Very cool! Ok, which one of you guys own it now.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I was also wondering how he could afford a RM.
The Dude who I wrote about who saw Elmer shoot that Eagle -
He was a Corporal in the last Army unit we had in China about 1940.
He went on a Unit Sheep Hunt by train into far West China.
Got one, used his issue Springfield.
That unit was transferred down to the Philippines.
He had rotated back Stateside prior to Dec 7.

 

[stu1ritter]

Cool information, thanks!

Any mention how a 25 year old Marine E-4 could afford an NRM?

Same way we all did. Buy your smokes at the beginning of the month and get a bunch of books from the library and do nothing for a month or two and save your pay. That's how a PFC bought a Nikon and two Omega's from the PX in 1959. That's how it was done. Maybe spare a quarter or two for a couple of beers at the EM club once a week. Just took something we were very used to....discipline!

Stu

 

[Truckman]

Maybe spare a quarter or two for a couple of beers at the EM club once a week. Just took something we were very used to....discipline!

Stu

It took less time by waiting for nickel beer night at the R&G Club...You were going there anyway to pay on your layaway account...Sure got thirsty out there between paydays though......Ben

 

[murphydog]

Same way we all did. Buy your smokes at the beginning of the month and get a bunch of books from the library and do nothing for a month or two and save your pay. That's how a PFC bought a Nikon and two Omega's from the PX in 1959. That's how it was done. Maybe spare a quarter or two for a couple of beers at the EM club once a week. Just took something we were very used to....discipline!

Stu

Impressive work!

 

[quinn]

Great work Bob. Perhaps your research could shed some light on 3 interest NRMs shipped to the City of Dallas, City Hall, Employees Credit Union, in May and July, 1940. Th May letter lists 'Police'. The June letter on my gun (part of a 2 gun shipment) does not. The SWHF could not find any other info to clarify these shipmnets. From my research, it would appear that the Emplyees' Credit Union first belonged to the city of Dallas but later (1942)f became independent

I've attached portions of letters on my gun from the July shipmnet and the letter on the May gun which sold at auction about the same time I bought mine. I'm not sure who might be on the original orders or correspondence.

Thanks for your research!

 

[Muley Gil]

Great work Bob. Perhaps your research could shed some light on 3 interest NRMs shipped to the City of Dallas, City Hall, Employees Credit Union, in May and July, 1940. Th May letter lists 'Police'. The June letter on my gun (part of a 2 gun shipment) does not. The SWHF could not find any other info to clarify these shipmnets. From my research, it would appear that the Emplyees' Credit Union first belonged to the city of Dallas but later (1942)f became independent

I've attached portions of letters on my gun from the July shipmnet and the letter on the May gun which sold at auction about the same time I bought mine. I'm not sure who might be on the original orders or correspondence.

Thanks for your research!

The RMs were probably ordered for a couple of police officers and the revolvers were paid for by deducting money from the officer's paychecks. My PD did something similar for years.

 

[RM Vivas]

Great work Bob. Perhaps your research could shed some light on 3 interest NRMs shipped to the City of Dallas, City Hall, Employees Credit Union, in May and July, 1940. Th May letter lists 'Police'. The June letter on my gun (part of a 2 gun shipment) does not. The SWHF could not find any other info to clarify these shipmnets. From my research, it would appear that the Emplyees' Credit Union first belonged to the city of Dallas but later (1942)f became independent

I've attached portions of letters on my gun from the July shipmnet and the letter on the May gun which sold at auction about the same time I bought mine. I'm not sure who might be on the original orders or correspondence.

Thanks for your research!

===================================

Didn't see much you don't already have.

I've been building a database of RM's that has every speck of info available and would make searches like this easier. I haven't gotten to the NRM's yet.

I did find a letter attached to one invoice that stated the Credit Union also received two other NRMs: 61292 and 61331.

Interestingly, both of these guns were NOT logged out as going to the Credit Union but were instead logged as going to "VS Judson PD Dallas, Texas"(61331) and "V.S. Judson Dallas, Texas" (61292).

This illustrates a vexing problem in the archive and records and that is that different people logged things using different methods. Here we have 4 guns that all shipped to the same agency/business (Credit Union) and are all marked Att to the same person (JUDSON) but are logged in four different ways, two of which make no mention of the agency/business!

With this in mind and attempting to see if there was more correspondence that might shed light on the Credit Unions role in getting guns, I searched under Municipal Credit Union Dallas and came up with nothing new. I also searched for JUDSON but nothing particular came up. I searched under the two additional s/n's (61292 and 61331) and pulled up nothing except correspondence that shed no light on the Credit Unions business.

Thats about it for now. I'm going to start leaning into adding the NRM's to my database but it is a much much more labor intensive chore to add those than it is the RM's.

Best,
RM Vivas

 

[Ol' Drover]

Vance Sipe Judson was a civil engineer who was working for the City of Dallas as "Chief Draftsman" in 1930.

However, his WWII draft registration card shows his employer to be "City of Dallas, Police Dept." Since he was 51 years old at the time and I don't find him on any of the department's post war rosters, it is possible that he volunteered to help out a depleted PD during the war years.

With his position before the war, I suspect he could well afford the cost of the NRM.

 

[Malysh]

Have you considered that Corp. Mayhew came from a monied family? There have always been well off and
rich people in the US. We can't assume all Marines' families are poor.

My family were upper middle class, and
I am a retired Marine.
Just a thought.

 

[RM Vivas]

Have you considered that Corp. Mayhew came from a monied family? There have always been well off and
rich people in the US. We can't assume all Marines' families are poor.

My family were upper middle class, and
I am a retired Marine.
Just a thought.

Gentleman Rankers
- Kipling

 

[Matt_X]

In Aug 1940, a Cpl would be at the 5th pay grade.
(p. 30 United States Marine Corp Ranks and Grades 1775 - 1969. Historical Division, Unites States Marine Corps 1970)

If he had been in for less than four years, his base pay would have been $54 a month. If he had 4 years in, then 59.40 per mo.
1940-1941 Military Pay Chart
If he had a technical or other specialty, that would be in addition. At some point there was a pay bonus for scoring above Marksman during rifle qualification. I don't know if that existed in 1940. While $54 a month was not great in civilian life, if he was living on base (or ship) then it could have been pretty good.