Ka-bars in "THE PACIFIC"

[tradewater]

Kind of off topic, but not. My Dad was a corpsman and made the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa with the Marines. He met John Basilone as they rode the same ship to Iwo Jima (LST 929) and drank coffee in the galley together. The Marines weren't supposed to be in the galley, but Dad said nobody would say anything to Basilone about it. I remember him saying "Hell, the admiral would highball Basilone if he saw him, he had the medal". If anybody has the book "IWO JIMA, legacy of valor" my father's picture is on page 57. He got rid of almost all of his stuff after the war and only talked about it in his later years. He carried, lost and gave away several Ka-bars, but didn't bring one home. Wish he had.

 

[vba]

blade1981, sorry I should have put a smiley at the end of my post! Me love carbon steel.

Vin

 

[tholiver]

Maybe, but made in Geneseo Illinois.

Moose

Actually to be more specific John Garand was French-Canadian,lol.
Either way damn fine gun!

 

[bladerique]

first off, those are Marines, not soldiers.

I have heard that Ka-BAR stands for knife accessory-Browning Automatic Rifle. I have no idea how much truth is in this though.
My GrandDad was issued a BAR and a Ka BAR came with it. He carried it for years and passed it on to me when I enlisted.
They were issued widely during WWII, and if you look closely you can see that one of the flag raisers of Iwo Jima has one on his hip.

IIRC, the Army fought in the Pacific as well, and are seen from time to time in the HBO mini-series.

 

[OhShoot]

...
Actually moosez45 the Garand was designed by a Canadian,lol.

Maybe, but made in Geneseo Illinois.

Moose

Nope. I assume by that you mean Springfield Armory. Which was in Springfield, MA.

The current "Springfield Armory" in Geneseo, IL had nothing to do with it, and wasn't even formed until 1974. They bought the name, had no connections with the previous Springfield Armory in any way. Indeed, they have never made any weapon used by the American military.

- OS

 

[Moosez45]

Nope. I assume by that you mean Springfield Armory. Which was in Springfield, MA.

The current "Springfield Armory" in Geneseo, IL had nothing to do with it, and wasn't even formed until 1974. They bought the name, had no connections with the previous Springfield Armory in any way. Indeed, they have never made any weapon used by the American military.

- OS

Tis true. Can't deny that. My point was designed by a French Canadian, made in America. Many different countries used them and the I don't think anyone is currently producing the M1 Garand now, but I may be wrong.

Thanks for the info, good post.

Moose

 

[dunc5]

All,

KA-BAR's lovely Tara Zak was the company go between for the "Pacific". We supplied knives for the show. There is a limited edition engraved knife that we also did for the show.

Gruntin,

There are several stories on how the KA-BAR Brand name came into existence. Your's being one of them. The brand name KA-BAR came into existence in 1922-3. The BAR was invented in 1917-8. The 1219c USMC F/U knife was designed in 1941. There doesn't seem to be any link that ties any of the above information together. Brad Lockwood's book on the Case Family also talks about the other stories. There isn't any provenance to support any of the stories so I guess it's all a moot point.
FYI, The official company line is the English Trapper/Bear story. That's our story and we're stickin' to it.


Best Regards,


Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives

Hi , just out of interest , how many Ka-Bars did you supply for the " Pacific" and were they your standard 1217 model ?

Thanks

Dunc

I did ask this question direct to Ka-Bar in an email but they said "Unfortunately, for privacy purposes, we cannot release exactly how many were sold to them" .I'm guessing it must have been quite a few . Was it the std 1217 model that was supplied ? Also did Ka-Bar supply the knives for the film " Flags of our Fathers "?

Thanks

Dunc