70 years ago today...

DunkEm

DunkEm

Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
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I'm betting more than a few Ka-Bar Fighting Utility knives were being carried onto the beaches of Normandy. Thanks to all who bravely fought for freedom that day and throughout WWII.
 
DunkEm said:
I'm betting more than a few Ka-Bar Fighting Utility knives were being carried onto the beaches of Normandy. Thanks to all who bravely fought for freedom that day and throughout WWII.
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Unfortunately, the only Kabars on Normandy would have been those some Army folks got hold of in some manner. The vast majority of the knives carried at Normandy would have been M1/M4 Bayonets, or M3, Cattaraugus 225Q or Case 337-Q-6 knives.

No Marines participated in the D-Day landings. There were a few in ships' companies, and some of those shot at floating mines from mast heads, but the "dislike' (loathing, rancor, you chose the word) that the Army had for the Marines had Eisenhower ban Marine participation.

See more of the story here.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/210918/rivalry-normandy/w-thomas-smith-jr#
 
No problem. I was unaware that the Marines had not participated in the landing until I did a research paper on Rudder's Rangers, the ranger unit that scaled the cliffs to take out the artillery in the cliff top bunkers.
 
Safe to say there would not have been any M4 bayonets at Normandy. The last production of M3 knifes and the first production of M4 bayonets happened in July of 1944.
 
I'm sure a couple of mk2 made it ashore. I was in the Navy and we would trade anytime we could. I was a Hull Tech during the Gulf War and would trade weld and fab jobs for MRE's. I even have a Camillus ( kabar ) from a Marine for doing work. So I'm sure a couple made it to Normandy.
 
Before I worked at KA-BAR I spent five years working as a curator of a WWII museum. It was amazing to see items turn up in places you would not expect. Union Cutlery (now KA-BAR) certainly had a presence. It is easy to overlook the TL-29 Electrician's Knife we made in large quantities for the war effort. Those handy tools showed up everywhere. As oldreliable45120 said, the barter system was king and goods passed back and forth regularly with no regard for original origin. One of the best parts of working for KA-BAR is the stories and the history behind the brand.

-OKB
 
OFFICIAL_KA-BAR said:
Before I worked at KA-BAR I spent five years working as a curator of a WWII museum. It was amazing to see items turn up in places you would not expect. Union Cutlery (now KA-BAR) certainly had a presence. It is easy to overlook the TL-29 Electrician's Knife we made in large quantities for the war effort. Those handy tools showed up everywhere. As oldreliable45120 said, the barter system was king and goods passed back and forth regularly with no regard for original origin. One of the best parts of working for KA-BAR is the stories and the history behind the brand.

-OKB
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I'd give my left one just to be a janitor in the Kabar factory. But I don't want to live in NY (no offense)
 
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