My grandfather passed away back in 2006 and I have wondered where this knife was ever since.

He deployed with USMC during WWII and was at Tinian, Saipan, Roi-Namur and finally the Battle for Iwo Jima.

After completing boot camp at Parris Island he was trained up to become a Engineer and joined the battalion as a flame thrower.


He brought four things back with him, his 1911 along with holster, one of his brass dog tags, this battle knife and black sand from the Iwo Jima beach.

His brother was also deployed with the Marines but was KIA at Okinawa 24 MAY 1945. From what I have heard this may have been due to friendly fire and I know he was on an amphibious attack craft.


After he passed away I was able to make sure the pistol was safely stored but never knew where his knife was. Luckily a relative was moving things out of his storage and found this in the bottom of my grandpas tool box.


This makes for a great Christmas and to remember what is really important during the holidays. Without his and his brothers sacrifice I feel like our country would look like that Amazon show Man In The High Castle. Thank God for the men and women of the greatest generation!!

Meant to say I am going to make a nice shadow box with his rank/patches and sand, knife and dog tag


RIP Grandpa and Uncle Calvin!!

Excellent! What a treasure

^^^^^^^ Excellent. Congrats to you. A true treasure for sure.

And thank you for your families sacrifice.

That’s pretty awesome and a great find. I have been to several MC WW2 battlefields the Marone Corps fought at and met many WW2 vets. It is a great piece of history. If it could only tell stories!

Darn this is still sharp and I swear could go a few more tours. They really made great knives for our servicemen back then!!

You may have no interest in doing this since the knife is an heirloom, but I had my Cattaraugus 225Q restored by Bark River Knives in Escanaba MI. They did a fantastic job and my knife was in just a little better shape than yours is. If you like, drop me a line on my email and will send you some photos. The WWII owner of my knife had hand written in ink on the sheath all the places he had carried the knife, but it was too rotten to restore. I was hoping to trace him and return the knife to his family but had no luck.
Your knifes history is a great one!

Seth-

What and awesome legacy. You mentioned flamethrowers. Do you know of Hershel “Woody” Williams? He is one of the handful of remaining WWII Marine CMH recipients still with us. I wonder if he knew your grandpa. Our Armory and VFW here in Fairmont, WV bears Woody’s name. You should reach out to him!

Best Regards.

Nice quartermaster, I have a restored Case quartermaster. Scherh cutlery made the excellent repro sheath unfortunately the owner died recently.

IMO, the Quartermaster was the best knife and certainly the most robust of WW2 US knives.

I agree with the idea of a shadow box. I would leave it as it is and proudly display it, what a tribute to a great man he was.

I will check it out and find a way to reach out to him.

I don't think there could have been a ton of guys trained on flamethrowers so you would think they trained together.

I was able to find out my grandpa was in combat with Ray Pittman. Here is his account:

"Alvy Ray Pittman, the son of a veteran of World War I, was born December 5, 1922 near Columbia, Mississippi. After finishing high school Pittman moved to Mobile to work with his father in the carpentry business. In November of 1942, Pittman enlisted in the Marines.

Pittman was trained to be a member of a demolition team, which were assigned to assault enemy “strong points” in advance of the riflemen. He became expert at the use of explosives and assigned to the 4th Marine Division, 20th Marine Engineers.

Pittman and his division left the United States in January of 1944. On February 2, he fought for the first time in the Marshall Islands. In June, Pittman and his unit landed on Saipan and after that island was secured, they invaded Tinian. In the five weeks he spent on both islands, Pittman lost 50 pounds. Before he had enlisted, Pittman had worried that the war might end before he had a chance to get into it. After surviving Saipan and Tinian, he began to worry that he would not live to see the end of it.

Pittman was promoted to Sergeant and put in charge of his own demolition team. On February 19, 1945, Pittman and his squad landed on Iwo Jima in one of the early waves. By the time the battle was over Pittman’s squad had only three men left out of the 16 who had landed. Pittman managed to survive without any wounds, but lost many comrades and friends.

Pittman was sent next to Hawaii to train for the invasion of Japan. In November of 1945 he came back to the United States and was discharged from the Marines. He returned to Columbia, Mississippi where he met, and later married Inez Pickett. Pittman went to work for his father-in-law in a brick and concrete block business, and eventually took over and expanded the enterprise. After he retired, two of his three children took over the business."



I cant imagine what that would be like, pretty terrible. My grandpa was one of the softest spoken and kindest people I knew but he was also pretty stout guy that was a farmer for a living.


He only talked a little about his service. Mentioned that they would try to eat their food and blow flies would be caked on everything because of the dead. Said he found Japanese soldiers that held a grenade to their heads instead of surrender.

On top of that he had to torch the enemy.


Thankfully they don't use flamethrowers any more but I guess that could change.

Marine rank in WW2 didn't have crossed rifles. Those weren't added until 1959.

Nice knife.
He probably served with my father and his best friend, both in the 4th Marines during the same time frame.

Awesome!

My uncle also was in the 4th. 23rd Regiment.

Outstanding! Glad you got the knife back, and I love the idea of the shadow box for your grandfather's items.

Semper Fi, and have a very Merry Christmas!

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:
Nice knife.
He probably served with my father and his best friend, both in the 4th Marines during the same time frame.

4th Marines, or the 4th Marine Division?

quote:

Originally posted by houndawg:
Marine rank in WW2 didn't have crossed rifles. Those weren't added until 1959.

I am aware of that but these look better plus I love the M1 Garand and so did my grandpa

So I am cool with it!

Wow. This is the second nice story I read on Sigforum today.

quote:

Originally posted by houndawg:


4th Marines, or the 4th Marine Division?

This isn't my business but, the 4th Marines (4th Marine Rifle Regiment) are in the third Division. The patch in the Display is the 4th Division.