Remington 1911A1 .45ACP
This Remington 1911A1 was made in 1944, during World War II.
World War II is now so long ago that there are damned few left who actually fought it.
This, of course, wasn't always the case.
My father quit High School at 16, got his father to lie about his age, and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in early 1942.
He joined the 1st Marine Division at Ballarat, Australia while they were refitting after the ardious campaign for Guadalcanal.
From there it was Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, and Okinawa.
That's him advancing on the airfield at Cape Gloucester.
One night on Okinawa, he was a Corporal in charge of a machine gun position when some Japanese tried to infiltrate the lines.
Dad didn't have permission to give away the machine guns position for just a few infiltrators so he drew his .45.
He emptied his magazine at the Jap running towards him, and somehow missed all seven rounds, but it was enough to cause the enemy soldier to change direction and run towards the next fighting hole.
There, Marines with Garands made sure he didn't get any farther.
Inglorious as it may be, that was my father's 1911 story.
I wish he was still here to tell it.
Semper Fi, Dad.