A great link I found today that should be of interest to any comic book fans or people interested in WW2 history:
http://twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/27ww2.html
He had some pretty interesting experiences.
I am not sure what he’s talking about in that interview wrt the M1 Garand rifle. It’s a hell of an accurate rifle, you can hit targets way out past 100 yards with it using iron sights.
He was old. Cut him some slack.
Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting. I didn’t realize he had seen combat, or that he had served after working on Captain America. That must have been pretty surreal for his comrades who had read his comics.
Maybe he doesn’t romanticize it as much as modern-day enthusiasts, who’ve never actually used it in battle conditions.
Bzzzt. Wrong answer.
That’s, like, your opinion, man.
Personally, I’d much rather trust the opinions of the people who actually used the weapon as it was designed to be used than any so-called “experts”.
(Of course, he may have actually been referring to the M-1 Carbine, in which case I blame crappy U.S. military naming habits).
No, it’s the opinion of my father, who fought in WWII, and the opinion of George Patton, who declared the M1 Garand the greatest fighting implement in human history, as well as the opinion of tens of thousands of American soldiers and marines.
Not to speak ill of the man, but the honest truth probably is that Kirby was a lousy shot and blamed it on the rifle.
Interesting article.
Looking at the wiki article on the M1 Garand just now, I was surprised/amused to see that someone inserted in this editorial aside:
Yeah, I would’ve been in the trenches with him and I’d say “Hey, Jack, we could sure use Cap right now… do you have a signal watch or something?”
And he would’ve ignored me.
He probably would have given you a nice, icy glare and said, “Not now, asshole! We’re in a war, goddammit!” From what I hear he was prone to some awfully salty language.
He also talks about the famed German 88 shooting “hundreds of rounds a minute.”
We, um, certain the lad ain’t senile?
ETA: Well, yeah, I know he’d dead, but I meant then.