U.S. Army CPL Thomas Edison Traylor’s .38 Special Colt Peacemaker in WWII?????

[lestert357]

Note: The provenance of this Colt SAA is speculative and based on a family story, not verifiable documentation - historical accuracy is questionable.

Thomas Edison Traylor was born on July 12, 1917 in Bradley County, Tennessee. He attended school through the 8th grade. On January 18, 1938 he married Louise Elizabeth Mantooth. He registered for the WWII draft in 1941 at the age of 24 and subsequently was inducted into the U.S. Army on January 13, 1943. His Army Military Occupational Specialty was Pioneer 729, the code for Combat Engineer, and on May 12, 1944 he departed for Europe. He arrived in Europe on May 26, 1944, 10 days before D-Day on June 6, 1944. He took part in the battles and campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Central Europe, and Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge). His service record shows that he was not wounded and earned the Combat Infantryman Badge, Good Conduct Ribbon, and the EAME Theatre Ribbon w/5 Bronze Stars (Campaign Stars). He subsequently returned to the States on September 8, 1945 and arrived on September 16, 1945.

Sometime between 1933 and his service induction date he purchased or otherwise came into the possession of .38 Special Colt Single Action Army serial number 354809. According to a signed statement (not notarized) from his daughter Gail Traylor Kirkpatrick (now deceased) he carried the Colt Peacemaker serial number 354809 during all of his European campaigns and brought it home after the War.

Thomas Traylor and his wife Louise had 4 children, 2 before he departed for Europe and 2 after his return. Betty Joyce Traylor was born in 1939 but died at birth or shortly thereafter; Charles Richard Traylor was born in 1942 and is now deceased; Thomas Gary Traylor was born in 1947 but died when he was hit by a truck in 1951; and Gail Elizabeth Traylor was born in 1954 and current status is unknown. The 1950 Census shows that Thomas E. Traylor was living in Hodgkins, Cook, Illinois and he was employed as a fitter and welder. He lived to the age of 91, died on September 11, 2008 and is buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee.

I recently purchased Thomas Traylor’s Colt SAA serial number 354809. I was specifically looking for a nice shooter condition 1st generation Colt SAA in .38 Special with a 4-3/4” barrel. This gun was listed on GB by a dealer in Los Alamos, NM from whom I had previously purchased and trusted. He mentioned the provenance in the listing but did not picture the documents. The double drag line on the cylinder in the listing pictures appeared to indicate a possible action problem, but the seller indicated that the action and lockup was solid. The gun appeared to be completely original to me and I thought the Buy Now price was reasonable so I went ahead with the purchase.

The gun arrived earlier this week and I’m very happy that I bought it. The action is excellent but it has been repaired as the hammer sets a litter high in the safety notch. Otherwise the bolt fully recedes at the loading notch, it drops just ahead of the cylinder bolt guide, and lockup is rock solid with the hammer at full cock. The gun is totally correct with all serial number matching parts including the grips and cylinder. SAA barrels were not serialized during this era but the 2-line barrel address is correct for the pre-war 4-3/4” barrel. The original mainspring was very strong which is typical of 1st generation SAA’s, so I installed a slotted light mainspring to use for shooting. This gun was manufactured in 1933 which I confirmed with Colt Archives, however the Colt SAA shipping records for this era were previously lost/stolen and I confirmed with Colt Archives that no shipping record is available.

Stories of Colt Single Action revolvers being used during WWII are rare. In fact, other than the “Battle of Britain” Peacemakers, almost non-existent. I realize that the documents I received with this gun are not absolute proof that this gun stormed the Normandy beaches on D-Day and later shot it’s way out of the forest at the Battle of the Bulge. But based on the condition of the gun and the documents I have I would say it’s possible that it was there witnessing those events. Regardless, I got it to shoot, and I’m pretty sure it will be perfect for that. Here’s a few pictures to support the above comments, and maybe a range report will follow sometime next week…..

 

[SPEEDGUNNER]

Cool piece, I'd own it, regardless of the story. Great story though if true.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[K Frame Keith]

I have no reason to doubt this story. I like it, therefore it’s true. Or it should be.

 

[walnutred]

Great find especially with the documentation. I see no reason to question the story. How unusual is a Colt SAA in 38 Special from that time period? That's not a caliber I think of when I think Colt SAA.

 

[bower]

Terry,
You always come up with such neat stuff. Whoever would think of someone carrying and using a Colt SAA during WW2 other than Patton.

 

[lestert357]

There were not a lot of Colt SAA’s manufactured in .38 Special. According to David Brown’s book on the 36 Calibers of the SAA there were:
- 82 standard frame SAA’s manufactured in .38 Colt Special
- 25 standard frame SAA’s manufactured in .38 S&W Special.

The two “Special” cartridges were essentially interchangeable but the Colt cartridge had a flat nosed lead bullet. Colt marked the SAA barrels for both cartridges “COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY .38 SPECIAL”, however the cylinder chambers were slightly different. The .38 Colt Special has a sharp shoulder step down in the chambers whereas the .38 S&W Special has a gradual beveled step down.

(Note there were also SAA’s manufactured in .38 Colt and .38 S&W for these older and totally different cartridges; the barrels for these two calibers were marked accordingly.)

The gun in this thread, serial# 354809, is chambered in .38 Colt Special (it has the sharp shoulder step down in the chambers). Also note that the last 2 matching digits of the serial number (09) are stamped between 2 chambers…..

The cylinder will accept a modern .38 Special cartridge…..

But the cylinder will not completely accept a .357 Magnum cartridge…..

As a side note, a .38 Colt (not .38 Colt Special) cylinder, which is bored straight through, will accept a .38 Special cartridge and a .357 Magnum cartridge!

The barrel is marked “COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY .38 SPECIAL”…..

The 4-3/4” barrel has the correct 2 line address as opposed to the 1 line address used for 5-1/2” & 7-1/2” barrels…..

The gun has the matching serial number 354809 on the underside of both grips and on the right side of the back strap and trigger guard…..

(Note in the picture that I temporarily replaced the original main spring with the slotted main spring to lighten the action for shooting)

The gun has matching bin numbers (637) on the back of the frame flat and the loading gate. This number is different from the serial number and was used during assembly to keep the loading gate matched to the frame…..

SAA barrels were not serialized during this era, but the ejector housing fits perfectly against the frame which is often not the case when barrels have been replaced…..

Bottom line is there is absolutely nothing suspicious about the originality of this gun. I believe even all of the screws are original as they are all the correct size and color, and show considerable evidence that they have been removed a few times.

This gun is in nice shooting condition, but not in top collectible condition. That’s why I bought it. Putting a few rounds through it periodically will not affect its value at all. The possible wartime provenance, true or not, is icing on the cake. Besides, you know what they say…..”when the legend becomes fact, print the legend”![emoji1]

 

[dsf]

Regarding that lightened mainspring, I've done the same on a few Colt SAA because the factory was stronger than heck. The aftermarket was (for me) too light. The gun went "bang" every time, but the hammer drop was too lazy. I reinstalled the original with a metal spacer in between. Got it right for my taste anyway.

 

[cgt4570]

I lived in Bradley Co. TN for several years.

I have an early S&W K frame Model of 1902 First Change round butt .38 Special Target that was owned and carried by a reserve officer of a shore battery around Seattle before being called up and shipped to France in WW1. It has his name, rank and unit in pencil inside the period round to square conversion grips. Luck was on his side. The armistice was signed while he was still somewhere in the Atlantic. I assume he had it with him on the trip. I was able to find him in the census, and he was on Masons rosters. Apparently, his unit did some cleanup and policing post-war, then got shipped back home.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

Great Colt Single Action Army and thank you for sharing.

 

[lestert357]

How unusual is a Colt SAA in 38 Special from that time period? That's not a caliber I think of when I think Colt SAA.

I somewhat addressed your question in my post# 6 above. I quoted published numbers, but let me add some comments based of my personal experience over 30+ years of dabbling in Colt SAA’s.

One big problem with the published data is that the Colt shipping records, and the subsequent factory letters that have been issued over the years, often state the .38 Special caliber as “.38/c”. This has been, and still is today, interpreted by many Colt collectors to mean .38 Colt. This has subsequently led to the popular belief in Colt collector circles that many/most .38 Special SAA’s found today have had barrel and cylinder replacements, and so they are always looked at with suspicion.

I believe that “.38/c” should just be interpreted as .38 caliber, not .38 Colt. Here is a specific example that I own. It is serial# 357767, a factory new pre-war post-war SAA (assembled post-war with all pre-war parts) in .38 S&W Special that letters as “.38/c”. The gun is unfired outside the factory and is published and pictured in Don Wilkerson’s book on these guns. It is now, and always has been, chambered in .38 S&W Special even though it is identified in factory records and letters as “.38/c”…..

The fact that the factory shipping records for most of the 1930’s shipments were lost/stolen some years ago has just further added to the nebulousness of the entire discussion.

The .38 Special cartridge was a very popular round in the 1930’s and like any good business Colt would have wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and turn that into sales. So I believe that there were many more SAA’s originally manufactured in .38 Special during the 1930’s than the published data indicates. I listed and pictured in post# 6 above most of the due diligence characteristics I look for (in addition to finish originality, etc.) when evaluating a 1st generation Colt SAA from the 1930’s era.

 

[.455_Hunter]

The Colt is outstanding, but the story is a bit far fetched, with the concept that a drafted junior enlisted soldier "getting to carry" his personal duty-size sidearm being rather nonsensical. Sure, compact/concealable weapons were snuck through the system, and battlefield pickups happened once in theater, but WWII was not a bring your own gun war. Officers had some additional discretion based on their commands.

 

[lestert357]

According to AI Overview:

While officially discouraged, some World War II soldiers did carry private weapons. This was more common for officers, who often carried personal sidearms, and some enlisted soldiers also brought their own guns, despite rules against it. These private weapons could include handguns or even rifles.

Elaboration:
Official Policy:
The U.S. military discouraged the use of privately owned weapons, especially in combat.

Officer Exceptions:
Some officers, particularly high-ranking ones, were known to carry their own handguns. For example, General George Patton famously carried his own decorated revolver.

Enlisted Soldiers:
While not the norm, some enlisted soldiers did bring their own weapons, sometimes carrying them discreetly.

Reasons for Private Weapons:
Soldiers might have preferred the feel or familiarity of their own weapon, or they might have acquired weapons during the war, such as through battlefield pickups.

Consequences:
Carrying private weapons without authorization could result in disciplinary action, but this was not always strictly enforced, particularly in the heat of combat.

 

[.455_Hunter]

According to AI Overview:

While officially discouraged, some World War II soldiers did carry private weapons. This was more common for officers, who often carried personal sidearms, and some enlisted soldiers also brought their own guns, despite rules against it. These private weapons could include handguns or even rifles.

Elaboration:
Official Policy:
The U.S. military discouraged the use of privately owned weapons, especially in combat.

Officer Exceptions:
Some officers, particularly high-ranking ones, were known to carry their own handguns. For example, General George Patton famously carried his own decorated revolver.

Enlisted Soldiers:
While not the norm, some enlisted soldiers did bring their own weapons, sometimes carrying them discreetly.

Reasons for Private Weapons:
Soldiers might have preferred the feel or familiarity of their own weapon, or they might have acquired weapons during the war, such as through battlefield pickups.

Consequences:
Carrying private weapons without authorization could result in disciplinary action, but this was not always strictly enforced, particularly in the heat of combat.

Not sure how a full size Colt SAA duty sidearm fits into the above categories of "discreet" nor "battlefield pickup", especially for someone who finished out as a corporal in a line combat engineer unit. Something like a Detective Special would be more plausible, but an IJ/H&R type break-open being most probable.

This is a great data point for the "Buy the gun, NOT the story" protocol. Traylor may have gotten to a point in life where he wanted the gun to have accompanied him to the war, and that figment slowly morphed into "fact", including for his family too.

 

[quinn]

Hey, Terry, think you'll ever find any provenance on that gun? Just kidding of course... you always make me feel like a piker. BTW, my mother, a WWII WASP (pilot) is burried in that same Chatanoog cemetary.

 

[cgt4570]

I agree it would have been unusual for a CPL to carry a SAA, but being a Pioneer Combat Engineer might have had more leniency.
In the case of my K frame, the officer was a CAPT in the reserves who never saw combat. I doubt anyone cared what he carried.

According to AI Overview:

While officially discouraged, some World War II soldiers did carry private weapons. This was more common for officers, who often carried personal sidearms, and some enlisted soldiers also brought their own guns, despite rules against it. These private weapons could include handguns or even rifles.

Elaboration:
Official Policy:
The U.S. military discouraged the use of privately owned weapons, especially in combat.

Officer Exceptions:
Some officers, particularly high-ranking ones, were known to carry their own handguns. For example, General George Patton famously carried his own decorated revolver.

Enlisted Soldiers:
While not the norm, some enlisted soldiers did bring their own weapons, sometimes carrying them discreetly.

Reasons for Private Weapons:
Soldiers might have preferred the feel or familiarity of their own weapon, or they might have acquired weapons during the war, such as through battlefield pickups.

Consequences:
Carrying private weapons without authorization could result in disciplinary action, but this was not always strictly enforced, particularly in the heat of combat.

 

[lestert357]

I hope no one feels that the story and documents I presented in post# 1 above were intended to prove that it is historically accurate. Probably the only thing that could prove the story that the Peacemaker was carried in WWII is a picture of Cpl.Traylor setting on his armored bulldozer somewhere in Europe holding the gun, and even then you wouldn’t know the serial number. The fact is I can’t even prove that Cpl. Traylor ever owned the gun. I bought the gun because it is the exact condition, configuration and caliber I have been looking for - to shoot. Cpl. Traylor’s Enlisted Record and daughter’s certification came along for the ride. I feel the story in those documents is interesting and possible given the condition of the gun, so I will keep them with the gun - but no, there is no proof. Additionally, I can’t even prove to anyone else that the gun is factory original because Colt Archives cannot provide a factory letter for it - the shipping records for this era were lost/stolen. But after 30+ years of handling Colt Peacemakers I know it is 100% factory original and correct, and that is all that is really important to me. I’ll be taking it up to the WVA cabin this week to see how it shoots, and post a range report by the end of the week.