Long story here about this rifle, but bear with me...People on here will find it interesting because I have never posted it before and the rifle will probably be gone tomorrow.
My dad died in the mid 1990's...He was born in 1930. He drove a tanker for Esso and then Exxon later, but he served in the 4th infantry division in occupied Germany right after WW2. He was newly married and I was 2 years old. Him and my mom were newlyweds and had no money and they lived in an apartment in Maryland. According to my mom, he kept badgering her stating he wanted a Garand like he carried in Germany in the Infantry. She finally got sick of him talking about it and told him she didn't care, go buy it, they didn't need groceries..So he did just that. Apparently we didn't starve though, because I am here.
So, this is in April 1968 and he goes to a place in Baltimore called "H&H Surplus". This is before GCA 68 was passed, so you could just walk in anywhere and buy whatever you wanted. He looked at a rack of M1 garands and picked the best one. A 1945 Springfield. Look at attached receipt from 4/1/1968...Note the date on the receipt...4/1/68. The rifle cost him $110, 150 rounds of ammo was $8.50...Four packages of clips were .35 cents, state tax was $3.71 for a total of $127.50.
Three days later Martin Luther King was shot and my father got home from driving his truck, popped a Schlitz, and turned the black and white TV on to watch the City of Baltimore explode in riots. He said he watched footage of rioters burning that store and carrying out armloads of these very same rifles...In a few months RFK was killed and that same year the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, ending all over the counter sales of any weapons without a 4473 filled out.
At any rate, I have a Florida LEO acquaintance that will be buying this from me tomorrow. I have no children and I don't want all of his stuff to get split up after I and my wife die. He assures me that he would rather pass something like this down to his sons rather than have everything sold separately in an auction or yard sale, and I agree. That's why I want to do it this way rather than split it up and make more money. That's really not the main issue here and it's what has caused me to ponder what to do here for years.
I am selling him the M1 Garand rifle, 4 ammo belts full of ammo and clips, bayonet, medical kit, 4th infantry ike Jacket uniform with everything shown, medals, certificates, his photos and photo album from occupied Germany with the Fourth Infantry Division, dogtags and more stuff that is shown.
Again, I wanted it to all stay together as it was my father's... I have the original receipt where he bought it in 1968 and everything else shown. I have never fired it. It has not been fired since 1979. i have owned three Garands myself but I am not a fan of the rifle frankly.
The accessories alone are worth hundreds of dollars, but it needs to all stay together. I have a notarized affidavit that I had prepared several months ago explaining the whole chain of events and how it was bought and how it is till today.
My father and I were not close. He grew up during the depression dirt poor and we never did anything together, so I am not attached to this stuff at all, but out of respect for my father, I do want it to stay together...Reason being, i see so many times we collectors go.."If only that could talk"...Well, my notarized statement and all of the documentation will help it to "talk" hopefully.
UPDATE: 5/9/2024....The LEO friend of mine just bought it and took it with him. He is a collector, so I doubt it goes anywhere but with his boys. He has a bring-back K98, an original blued 1911 and other nice stuff, so it's in good hands. A little bittersweet for me, but I know it's in good hands.
At any rate, ask any questions and I'll try to answer.
My dad died in the mid 1990's...He was born in 1930. He drove a tanker for Esso and then Exxon later, but he served in the 4th infantry division in occupied Germany right after WW2. He was newly married and I was 2 years old. Him and my mom were newlyweds and had no money and they lived in an apartment in Maryland. According to my mom, he kept badgering her stating he wanted a Garand like he carried in Germany in the Infantry. She finally got sick of him talking about it and told him she didn't care, go buy it, they didn't need groceries..So he did just that. Apparently we didn't starve though, because I am here.
So, this is in April 1968 and he goes to a place in Baltimore called "H&H Surplus". This is before GCA 68 was passed, so you could just walk in anywhere and buy whatever you wanted. He looked at a rack of M1 garands and picked the best one. A 1945 Springfield. Look at attached receipt from 4/1/1968...Note the date on the receipt...4/1/68. The rifle cost him $110, 150 rounds of ammo was $8.50...Four packages of clips were .35 cents, state tax was $3.71 for a total of $127.50.
Three days later Martin Luther King was shot and my father got home from driving his truck, popped a Schlitz, and turned the black and white TV on to watch the City of Baltimore explode in riots. He said he watched footage of rioters burning that store and carrying out armloads of these very same rifles...In a few months RFK was killed and that same year the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, ending all over the counter sales of any weapons without a 4473 filled out.
At any rate, I have a Florida LEO acquaintance that will be buying this from me tomorrow. I have no children and I don't want all of his stuff to get split up after I and my wife die. He assures me that he would rather pass something like this down to his sons rather than have everything sold separately in an auction or yard sale, and I agree. That's why I want to do it this way rather than split it up and make more money. That's really not the main issue here and it's what has caused me to ponder what to do here for years.
I am selling him the M1 Garand rifle, 4 ammo belts full of ammo and clips, bayonet, medical kit, 4th infantry ike Jacket uniform with everything shown, medals, certificates, his photos and photo album from occupied Germany with the Fourth Infantry Division, dogtags and more stuff that is shown.
Again, I wanted it to all stay together as it was my father's... I have the original receipt where he bought it in 1968 and everything else shown. I have never fired it. It has not been fired since 1979. i have owned three Garands myself but I am not a fan of the rifle frankly.
The accessories alone are worth hundreds of dollars, but it needs to all stay together. I have a notarized affidavit that I had prepared several months ago explaining the whole chain of events and how it was bought and how it is till today.
My father and I were not close. He grew up during the depression dirt poor and we never did anything together, so I am not attached to this stuff at all, but out of respect for my father, I do want it to stay together...Reason being, i see so many times we collectors go.."If only that could talk"...Well, my notarized statement and all of the documentation will help it to "talk" hopefully.
UPDATE: 5/9/2024....The LEO friend of mine just bought it and took it with him. He is a collector, so I doubt it goes anywhere but with his boys. He has a bring-back K98, an original blued 1911 and other nice stuff, so it's in good hands. A little bittersweet for me, but I know it's in good hands.
At any rate, ask any questions and I'll try to answer.
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