“In my opinion, the M1 rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised.”
– General George S. Patton

Any gun nut – er, “firearms enthusiast” – worth their salt has heard of the M1 Garand (it rhymes with “errand,” by the way). This .30-06 semi-automatic rifle is one of the most iconic American firearms of all time, and was the standard-issue weapon for American infantry troops during World War II and the Korean War. Drill teams and honor guards continue to use this in the present day, such is its role as a symbol of the American military.

Fewer, however, know about the life story of the man behind the weapon – John Garand, a Canadian-American engineer and weapons designer. Born one of a whopping 12 children on a Quebec farm, Garand’s father relocated the entire family to Connecticut following the untimely death of the clan’s mother in 1899. All six boys in the family had the official first name St. Jean le Baptiste, however, John Garand was the only one of them who used “Jean” as his first name. The other five used their middle names.

The invention bug ran in the family, with several of his brothers sharing his penchant for innovation. Garand learned how to speak English while working in a textile mill sweeping floors. He later worked in a shooting gallery where he developed an interest in firearms, which, when combined with his naturally innovative nature and machining skills picked up in the textile mill, got him a job at a Providence, RI, tool-making company in 1909. In 1916, he relocated to New York City, where he continued working as a toolmaker, and practiced his rifle skills at shooting galleries on Broadway.

New York was still part of America in 1916.

John Garand: An American Citizen

Garand became a naturalized citizen in 1920.

It was in 1917, the same year that the United States entered the First World War, that Garand took his interest in firearms and aptitude at machining and made them into a vocation rather than an avocation. The United States Army was on the lookout for a light machine gun, and the then-more-honestly-named War Department purchased Garand’s design toward that end. Garand himself was given a position with the United States Bureau of Standard. His design was not produced until 1919, the year after the war ended, but Garand was given a government job at the Springfield Armory, which he kept until his retirement in 1953.

Garand’s goal might sound unremarkable to us today, but it was a fresh innovation at the time: The U.S. government charged him with creating a gas-actuated, self-loading rifle for the infantry and a carbine capable of ejecting the spent cartridge while also reloading a new round based on a gas-operated system.

It took him 15 years to meet the Army’s specifications, but he eventually did it with the M1 Garand. The Garand rifle replaced the bolt-action M1903 Springfield as the standard-issue weapon for infantrymen in the United States military. All told, a whopping four million of these were handed out during the Second World War. No less an authority than General George S. Patton wrote that “In my opinion, the M1 rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised.”

John Garand’s Non-Monetary Rewards

Garand never received any royalties for his work on the rifle. A bill was eventually introduced in Congress to award him $100,000 in thanks for his work, but it failed to pass. He died in 1974, in Springfield, MA, where he is interred in Hillcrest Park Cemetery.

He did, however, receive non-financial accolades for creating the rifle that would define a generation of American infantrymen. He received the Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 1941, the inaugural Medal for Merit (jointly with Albert Hoyt Taylor) on March 28, 1944, and the Alexander L. Holley Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame inducted him the year after his passing in 1974.

While the weapon was used in World War II and the Korean War, it saw action in a number of other conflicts around the world, including the Indochina War, the Vietnam War, the Six-Day War, Iran-Iraq War and even the Syrian Civil War. Indeed, there seems to be few conflicts since its invention that the Garand has not been involved in. This is largely due to the weapon’s astonishing durability.

The Garand Rifle

The M14 was officially adopted in 1957, but it was not until 1965 that the changeover was complete, which was limited to the regular, active-duty Army. The Army Reserve, Army National Guard and the Navy continued to use the weapon well into the 1970s.

The U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Team, the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, the United States Air Force Academy Cadet Honor Guard and almost all Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), as well as some Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) still use the weapon when drilling.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the M1 Garand has no shortage of copies to boast. The Japanese Type 4 is basically a wholesale copy of the weapon, albeit adapted for a caliber more popular in Japan. At the request of NATO, Beretta produced parts of the Garand, including one that was licensed to an Indonesian company. The American M14 is little more than an improved, select-fire version of the M1 Garand, boasting a 20-round magazine chambered for .308. The Ruger Mini-14 is likewise based on the Garand, as is a commercial version of the weapon produced stateside.

Certain American citizens who meet requirements set forth by the Civilian Marksmanship Program can own the real deal.

Garand’s carbine, sadly, remained a prototype.

While not as famous as Thomas Edison or Henry Ford, John Garand is no less important in the history of American innovation. Indeed, his genius might well be responsible for the resounding success of the American war effort. If you value the freedom you hold as an American, take a moment to remember the life of John Garand, a man of humble beginnings whose innovation holds a resoundingly far reach in American and world history.

John Garand: The Forgotten History of the Man Who Invented the Iconic M1 Garand Rifle originally appeared in The Resistance Library at Ammo.com.

quote:

Garand’s design toward that end. Garand himself was given a position with the United States Bureau of Standard. His design was not produced until 1919, the year after the war ended, but Garand was given a government job at the Springfield Armory, which he kept until his retirement in 1953.

Garand’s goal might sound unremarkable to us today, but it was a fresh innovation at the time: The U.S. government charged him with creating a gas-actuated, self-loading rifle for the infantry and a carbine capable of ejecting the spent cartridge while also reloading a new round based on a gas-operated system.

It took him 15 years to meet the Army’s specifications, but he eventually did it with the M1 Garand. The Garand rifle replaced the bolt-action M1903 Springfield as the standard-issue weapon for infantrymen in the United States military. All told, a whopping four million of these were handed out during the Second World War. No less an authority than Ge

I love mine and will be shooting it next week at the CMP Park competing in the Talladega 600!

And it's a beautiful looking rifle, to boot.

In Basic training (1957), we had to qualify at 500 yards with the M1 Garand. A 6 foot target. Peep sights.

As I recall, very few of my group failed to qualify.

Such was the accuracy of that fine weapon.

I've only shot one once, it was only 100 yards; one of my first if not first 100 yard shots way back when I was getting started in shooting.
I was amazed at the accuracy with peep sights.

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Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
And it's a beautiful looking rifle, to boot.

In spite of all the polymer floating around these days, I think it's safe to assume that the M1 will always be the first thing that comes to mind whenever people think of "rifle" – or at least a later rifle that looks very much like it.

One of the most fun days of shooting, while breaking many safe shooting rules, which I will chalk up to the ignorance of youth, was with a Garand. Abandoned strip mine in winter with icicles on limestone cliff faces at a couple hundred yards. The "thwack!" and falling icicles was so cool.

The horror of haveing to face the US army armed with Garands when the enemy had bolt action rifles. Just one of the deciders of WWII. It's really amazing what a revolutionary advancement a self loading infantry rifle was.

I have yet to find a rifle with open sights that will out group my NM Garand.

Back in my youth I couldn't be beat at a match.

I still have all my competition clips. 5 round, two round and single round.

My first year of high school JROTC we had Garands. Then the Army swapped them out for M14s. We preferred the M1sto drill with, primarily due to the upper handguard. We even had custom-made blank adapters for them.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 229DAK,

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Originally posted by pbslinger:
The horror of haveing to face the US army armed with Garands when the enemy had bolt action rifles. Just one of the deciders of WWII. It's really amazing what a revolutionary advancement a self loading infantry rifle was.

Keep in mind, it wasn't just one rifleman vs. one rifleman. It was squad vs. squad, platoon vs. platoon, company vs. company, and on up. And the two sides had differing doctrines when it came to those organizations and the weapons involved.

For example, while it's overly simplistic way of looking at it, in a basic sense the German rifle squads were built around the squad's belt-fed light machine gun, with the riflemen being there primarily to support the machine gunners, whereas the American rifle squad was built around the riflemen, with the automatic rifleman and potentially attached machine gun from higher echelons being there to support the rifles.

So while the Garand did present a higher output of volume of fire for each individual rifleman, it was contrasted with the high volume of fire for each squad from the other sides' integral machine guns in each squad. Or, to put it another way, most of the American squad's firepower came from their semiauto riflemen (despite their lack of integral machine guns), while most of the German squad's firepower came from the machine gunners (despite their use of bolt action rifles by other members of the squad).

Either one can be effective, just for different reasons, based around different tactics and doctrines.

And importantly, this rifleman-focus meant the American squad could absorb more losses before a significant drop in combat effectiveness, whereas the German squad's focus around the machine gun would result in a noticeable drop in effectiveness if the machine gun was taken out.

I took Army Basic training at Fort Knox in July 1964. We were told that we were the last to train with the M1. At the end of our training, we boiled them and they were packed in cosmoline and crated..

And while we are talking about American firearms inventors who seem to have been overlooked somehow, let's hear it for Jacob Snider, whose invention of the breech-loading conversion of the Enfield P53 rifled musket let to the Snider rifle, in service between 1863 and the late 1870's with the British and Canadian Armed Forces up until around 1910 in some cases in Canada] as well as soldiers of the Raj and in Egypt.

And then Mr Henry O Peabody, designer of the tipping block rifle, which was improved by the Swiss designer Friedrich von Martini, and combined with the polygonal rifling designed by Scotsman Alexander Henry.

The result was the Martini-Henry rifle - as seen in the movie 'Zulu' - and carried on through into the First Boer War as well as India.

And who remembers James Parrish Lee? Sure, he invented the Lee rifle used by the US Navy, but his lasting legacy must lie over the Atlantic Ocean, where his invention of the Lee-Metford, leading to the Lee-Enfield, armed tens of million of troops of the British Empire, their minions and many others around the globe for well over 130 years.

I have a Peabody rifle.