Photography and history are two interests of mine and I’ve been accumulating material for years, including what has grown into a good-sized collection of old American news service photographs. I thought other Sig Forum members might like seeing some, and that a good place to start would be people and guns. I will be adding more photos and subjects as time allows. I hope you enjoy them!


Los Angeles — WHO SAID “WEAKER SEX” — Whenever anyone mentions burglars to Mabel Dee Stevens, she simply laughs with unmitigated delight, and waves her gun. For Mrs. Stevens is the only woman in the Los Angeles Police Department ever to qualify in marksmanship with a .45 caliber pistol. She scored a total of 303 points recently at the Elysian Park range, and as a result will receive $2 a month extra pay. 11/24/33


ARMY TESTS NEW MACHINE GUN CARRIER — The Army’s experimental machine gun carrier, a low-slung automotive vehicle designed to keep machine guns in continuous action during advances and retreats, is shown as it was being tested in maneuvers at Fort Sam Houston, Tex. It was built at Fort Benning, Ga., in the Infantry School, by Captain Robert G. Howie and Sergeant M. C. Wiley, under the supervision of Brig. Gen. Walter C. Short, of Fort Niagara, N.Y. With this carrier, the Army hopes to overcome the chief obstacle of machine gun operation, that of keeping the gun in operation at all times. Machine guns are usually out of operation until they are set up in the lines. Note how the low-slung carrier allows the machine gun operator to spray positions in front of him as the driver of the carrier maneuvers it back and forth. Sergeant Wiley is operating the gun while Corporal B. W. Russell drives. 11/12/37


ARMY’S LATEST RIFLE

Thursday, members of the press were given a special demonstration on the newest battle rifle of the army, the “M1”. Eventually it is expected that the M1 will replace the aging Model 1903, which went into service that same year. The new rifle uses a special clip that holds eight rounds of ammunition. The clip is not removed when the cartridges are inserted in the chamber. NOV 1939


G-MEN GIVE SHOOTING LESSON

Quantico, VA. – Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation gave a demonstration on the various gun techniques they employ during a recent practice session at the Marine barracks at Quantico.

Photo shows agent demonstrating F.B.I. method of long-range pistol shooting. 10-9-40


AND ONE MAN, WERMUTH, WAS AN ENTIRE ARMY BY HIMSELF – Capt. Arthur William Wermuth (shown with aide), one of the Battling ———‘s of Bataan, “absolutely accounted for” at least 116 Japanese with a 45-caliber sub-machine gun. After the Japs overran Corregidor, his wife was informed he was considered missing in action. Yesterday his wife received a telegram from Maj. Gen. James A. Ulio, adjutant general of the army, which said: “Information received indicated your husband is now a prisoner of war of the Japanese government in the Philippines.” – U.S. Army Signal Corps Photo. Dec 9 1942


TWO OF THE OLD SCHOOL — An old timer in the game himself, Bill Pickett, who has made almost 400,000 barrels since he went to work at Winchester in 1886, fingers his deer gun, a lever-action Model 94 that will be 50 years old this year. The carbine was the first gun built to fire cartridges loaded with smokeless powder. 12/12/44


COURAGE, YES, BUT NOT TO LOOK – DETROIT: Arthur Greer, Plastic Technician, knows the new “Doron” bullet-proof vest he wears will stop the bullet fired at him at close range, but the knowledge doesn’t preclude operation of reflex action in his eyes. The vest, a development by the Paramount Rubber Co. of Detroit, of body armor used by the Army and Navy, is made of layers of fiber glass. It is guaranteed to stop all ammunition no heavier than the 38/44 S&W Special. 9/17/47


SHERIFF AIMS TO “BUILD BETTER MEN” – Joseph D. Lohman, Cook County Sheriff, oversees several programs meant to reduce the growing juvenile delinquency problem. The problem is confined mainly to teen-aged boys and Sheriff Lohman said that is where he is directing most of his efforts. Although open to any boy, his “Devil Dog Teens”, “G.I. Juniors”, and “Cook County Sheriff’s Police Squadron” programs were developed with a mind to help those unfortunate boys who might be prone to a life of crime. The Sheriff told reporters, “We are giving boys a chance to improve their lives, to become better men than they might otherwise”.

PHOTO SHOWS – At a recent Devil Dog Teens open house event, held at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Sheriff Joseph D. Lohman observes as Marine Sgt. (unidentified) instructs young boy in “the Marine Corps way” of handling a rifle. James Martin, 10, of Norwood Park, did well for a first time, especially considering the gun was bigger than he was. AUG 31 57


ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 17, WITH DETROIT GUNS STORY — LISTEN GIRLS — Instructor Lisa Rozner describes an automatic pistol to a group of woman attending a gun clinic at the Dearborn, Mich., police pistol range. The clinic is one of a number in the Detroit area training civilians — many of them women — in the use of firearms. Police officials say civilian interest in guns and gun training has increased significantly since the riots last July. March 14, 1968


Last fall women were admitted to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland for the first time in its history. The initial group of female naval officers is expected to graduate in 1980. SHOWN – Female cadet receives instruction in small arms use right alongside her male counterparts. JUN 22 1977


ACROSS THE NATION POLICE STEP UP THE FIREPOWER – In the last few years a growing trend among U.S. law enforcement agencies has been to trade their old service revolvers in for newer semi-automatic pistols. The main reason given is to keep pace with the criminal element that increasingly uses modern weaponry in crimes. This new generation of semi-automatic pistols are not only more reliable than those of old, but hold more ammunition, as many as 15 rounds. Police revolvers typically hold 6 rounds. Pistols are also much quicker to reload, especially in the high-stress situations that police officers are likely to encounter.

SHOWN – Fox Point Police Officer Ralph Beck displayed the 9mm pistol that his department chose because it holds more cartridges than a revolver and is faster and easier to reload. TU SEP 26 1989

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JSW,

Cool!

Thank you for sharing these with us.

I really like your post and it would be wonderful if you could keep them coming.

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
I really like your post and it would be wonderful if you could keep them coming.

My sentiments exactly!

Thanks guys! I’ll try to post something every month. Here’s another one, 69 years ago today!


DETROIT, DEC. 28 -- GUN THAT SHOOTS AROUND CORNERS -- Sgt. Donald D. Hector, of Muskegon, Mich., demonstrates how a newly developed barrel makes it possible to shoot around corners with a standard sub machine gun. The barrel, which fits on the Army's standard M-3 "grease gun", was developed at the Detroit Arsenal for use by tank crews and infantrymen. It fires a standard 45 caliber bullet at the rate of 450 rounds a minute. 12-28-1951

From now on I will be posting new photos by the month they were originally taken. So here’s some, all from the month of January. Also, I decided to start adding some old 35mm color slides I own. They don’t have a lot of info like press photos but it’s cool to see history in color rather than the B&W we’re used to.


Now the police are testing glass that is bullet proof and that will stop the heaviest calibered slugs in use. Here are Detective/Sgt. McGee, with pistol, Chief of Police Dan O'Brien and other San Francisco officers at a trial of the glass. -- SF Bureau -- Jan 10 1927


1/21/40 Washington Park, Denver, Colo.


GIRLS IN U.S. COLLEGE RECEIVE MILITARY TRAINING

These young girls are members of the Women's Auxiliary Training Corps, an organization for the voluntary training of American college girls in military tactics, courtesy and discipline. They belong to the first unit of the WATC, formed at the University of Indiana in the U.S. Midwest. The WATC, whose members wear bright red uniform coats and white flannel skirts, is similar in organization and routine to the Reserve Officers Training Corps, which prepares men students in American Colleges for commissions in the Army.

In this file photo an ROTC officer explains the workings of a machine gun. 1/11/43


ITALIAN MAQUIS WOMAN FASCIST FIGHTER FROM AWAY BACK

Italy…. Although the outside world has heard little about them, there were anti-fascist guerillas fighting for freedom in Italy as far back as 1927, while Mussolini was being praised throughout the world for making Italian trains run on time. They fought Italian fascist and German Nazis alike and are still doing it. This woman school teacher is one of them. She fights side by side with her husband in the “White Patrol” among the snow-clad peaks of the French-Italian border. Monday, January 15, 1945


Mummers Parade, Philadelphia Penn., Jan. 1950


ALBANY, GA., JAN 24 – IKE GETS THE POINT – As former president Eisenhower holds his gun on the ready, his hunting dog “Rap” is on point, as they pose for this picture in the field at Blue Springs Plantation where Ike is spending a 10-day bird hunt near Albany, GA. Ike bagged the limit today for the second day in a row. 1961

Is there a reason I can't view these old photos? I can view pictures in the Watch Gallery, I can view pictures in the other threads like the Valley of Fire, but not these.

Windows 10 and Android 10.

Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Is there a reason I can't view these old photos?

I cannot view them either. The DNS for the OP's domain name is not propagated to some major name servers, such as Google's 8.8.8.8. When one queries the www.john-s-wilson.com at 8.8.8.8, it returns SERVFAIL. Same is true for some other major name servers. OP should contact Godaddy about this issue.

Thanks for the info guys. I’ve been using my website to host photos for over two years now and this is the first complaint I’ve heard. I will look into it.

Your wilsonblog doesn't work either. www.john-s-wilson.com is dead.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Your wilsonblog doesn't work either. www.john-s-wilson.com is dead.

Can you tell me exactly what you are using? Since this morning I have had over a dozen friends and acquaintances check with various browsers. No one has had any problems viewing my blog or seeing the photos I posted here.

Interesting development here on my end. When I disconnect my devices from my Suddenlink modem and connect by my cell Hotspot I can view your pictures and view your web link.

Now I need to figure why I can view all other pictures in all other threads and on other websites, but not yours. Gotta be a setting in my modem.

Thanks for the pictures by the way! Really enjoy them.

quote:

Originally posted by JSW:
Can you tell me exactly what you are using?

I am using Safari and Vivaldi on a Mac, but more directly, going to the command line and using the DNS tool dig (thus eliminating any browser from the equation), it fails to resolve at the Google name server (as well as several other top level name servers). All other domain names tried resolve at Google, as they should. It does resolve using some online DNS lookup tools, but if properly propagated, it should resolve at any name server. It is a DNS failure, not a browser failure.

[athena]~$ dig www.john-s-wilson.com @8.8.8.8

; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> www.john-s-wilson.com @8.8.8.8
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 45881
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.john-s-wilson.com. IN A

;; Query time: 44 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Tue Jan 05 06:07:45 MST 2021
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 50

Johnny3eagles & henryaz – can you see the photos now? I’ve checked in with host customer service, hopefully the issue is resolved.

Yes! Thank you very much. Email inbound.

Man, it is odd to remember that the first women were admitted to Annapolis in 1980. That was the year I started college, and it just doesn't seem like things were that different that recently.

quote:

Originally posted by JSW:

ITALIAN MAQUIS WOMAN FASCIST FIGHTER FROM AWAY BACK

Italy…. Although the outside world has heard little about them, there were anti-fascist guerillas fighting for freedom in Italy as far back as 1927, while Mussolini was being praised throughout the world for making Italian trains run on time. They fought Italian fascist and German Nazis alike and are still doing it. This woman school teacher is one of them. She fights side by side with her husband in the “White Patrol” among the snow-clad peaks of the French-Italian border. Monday, January 15, 1945

Interestingly, she's wielding a Finnish Suomi M31 SMG. One possible route for this seemingly out-of-place SMG was through Spain. A small number of Suomis were purchased from the Finns by both sides during the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939.

Some of the Republican Spanish forces fled across the border into southern France after their defeat, bringing their firearms with them. Many of these Republican firearms were confiscated by the French authorities, and some former Spanish guns did eventually end up in the hands of Resistance members after the fall of France.

Or, some Italian volunteers also traveled to Spain to fight on both sides during the Spanish Civil War, and it may have ended up in Italian hands through that route.

So this Italian partisan may have acquired a Finnish submachine gun, formerly owned by the Spanish, that she's now using to fight the Germans in France.


She could have also gotten it off a German. The Suomis were highly prized by the Germans, with a few thousand being purchased outright from Finland for issue to German army and Waffen-SS units on the Eastern Front, and others being acquired through other means by German units stationed in Finland. Then as German units were moved from place to place, some Suomis could have easily ended up in France or Italy.

Great collection; thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by JSW:
Johnny3eagles & henryaz – can you see the photos now? I’ve checked in with host customer service, hopefully the issue is resolved.

Yep, can see them all. I am curious what they did to resolve the issue.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

Yep, can see them all. I am curious what they did to resolve the issue.

Customer service looked into it and said I had some issue with my “DNSSEC” that was probably causing the problem. I guess they were right.