IN THE BEGINNING THE ORIGINAL U.S. MARINE CORPS KNIVES OF WORLD WAR II by Bernard Levine (c)1990 Bernard Levine research assistance by Carter Rila and Tom Williams Picture for a moment the scene on the U. S. Army troop transport ship Hunter Liggett on the evening of August 6, 1942, as the ship approaches the sandy beach on an obscure South Pacific island in the Solomon chain, an island called Guadalcanal. Aboard are about 3,500 men of the 1st Marine Division, part of the second wave that is to go ashore the following morning and dispossess the Japanese army of its newly built airfield on that island, an airfield that directly threatens the sea-routes between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. In the ship's holds, where enlisted Marines are stacked in tiers of bunks, almost like loaves of bread on bakery racks, the air is rich with the smells of amphibious warfare: fuel oil, vomit, paint, acrid sweat, cleaning solvents, greasy food, damp web gear, tropical decay. Yet in contrast to the wretched merchant ships that brought these Marines from San Francisco to New Zealand, the Hunter Liggett seems a floating palace. And viewed in retrospect, from their squalid dugouts on Guadalcanal, this ship will seem to these Marines a very vision of paradise. In the first hours of August 7 these men, all volunteers, check over their gear one last time, put on their packs, and wait their turns to board Higgins boats to be ferried ashore. Most of them are pre-war enlistees, and the more senior of them are veterans of Belleau Wood in the First World War, of Haiti, of the Dominican Republic, of Nicaragua and the battles against the original Sandinistas, and of the recent defense of the International Settlement at Shanghai, China. These Marines, about to embark on the first major ground assault in response to Japanese aggression in the Pacific, are well armed by the standards of the day. They carry rifles or sub-machine guns -- slow but accurate 1903 Springfield rifles, a few new M1 Garands, ponderously splendid Browning Automatic Rifles, too few of the dependable Thompson sub-machine guns, and far too many of the abominable Reisings. They have both heavy and light machine guns. They have light tanks, artillery, anti- tank guns, and mortars. They have grenades and high explosive charges. They have bayonets and they have knives. Looking back today, we picture all World War II Marines armed with "Ka-Bar" combat utility knives. Yet the fact is that the very first of those "Ka-Bar" knives were shipped from the factory more than five and a half months after the 1st Marine Division had landed on Guadalcanal, indeed more than a month after all the survivors of the original force had been relieved and withdrawn from the island, where they had stood firm against the worst both the Japanese and the jungle could throw at them for more than four months. It was January 27, 1943, when the first lot of 2,100 No. 1219C2s (as the Marine Corps designated its version of the Navy's Mark 2) were shipped from the factory in Olean, New York. Before that, there was no standard Marine Corps combat utility knife. And even after the Marine Corps "Knife, Fighting and Utility," was approved and in production, it took some months for large numbers to be manufactured, and even longer for adequate quantities of these popular new knives to be pushed through the supply "pipeline" and out into the hands of the troops. "Rule A" of military logistics states that the troops in the front lines are always the last to receive any new items of equipment. Before the 1219C2, the choice of a knife was left up to individual unit commanders, and often to individual marines. For example, in the 11th Marines, Col. Del Valle's artillery regiment, which was to be the backbone of the defense of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, some of the troops had been issued World War I trench knives while still in training at Tent City, North Carolina -- the future Camp Lejeune. These old-style knives went well with their '03 Springfield rifles and bayonets, their BARs, Browning machine guns, and other left-over World War I weapons, clothing, and equipment. PICTURE: TRENCH KNIFE (courtesy M. H. Cole) Yet when these same Marines were preparing to leave Jacksonville, North Carolina, and also after they had arrived in San Francisco, prior to shipping out, most of them bought commercial "hunting knives." T. G. Gallant, then a corporal in a special weapons company (37 mm anti-tank cannon and .50 caliber machine gun) of the 11th Marines, told it this way in his book, On Valor's Side ((c) 1963, Doubleday): "The final hours before D-Day were employed in checking personal equipment, sharpening the knives we had bought in Jacksonville and San Francisco and the regulation bayonets." (page 219). On his transport ship with the first wave, Richard Tregaskis, in Guadalcanal Diary ((c) 1943, Random House), described similar scenes: "Friday, July 31 1942: "Some of the lads were sharpening bayonets, which indeed seemed to be a universal pastime all over the ship. I saw one with a huge bolo knife, which he was carefully preparing. Others worked at cleaning and oiling their rifles and sub-machine guns. Some of the boys had fashioned home-made blackjacks, canvas socks containing lead balls for 'infighting.'" (page 15) "Sunday August 2 "In our cabin tonight Capt. Hawkins [who was to be the first marine ashore on Guadalcanal] and I talked over the coming offensive. He said the men were ready. All over the ship, he said, he had seen them sharpening their bayonets, oiling their knives, cleaning and sighting along their rifles. 'And they do it without being told,' he said, as if awed by the phenomenon." (page 24) "Tuesday August 4 "On deck, the lads lounged about, still shooting the breeze, still sharpening knives. 'I just want to kill a Jap, that's all,' said one of them to me." (page 29) The first Japanese soldier to surrender in Corporal Gallant's sector was studied with curiosity and amazement by, "Marines gathered in a small knot of sweaty dungarees and dangling web belts hung with sagging canteens, knives, and bayonets." Gallant matter-of-factly described his use of his own hunting knife. Once ashore, ... "I had dug an L-shaped foxhole along the chicken-wire fence line. This was what I considered a clever new foxhole design. that anyone wishing to get at me had to stick his head into the short end of the L. This put his neck in a convenient position for me to grab it and rip it open with a very keen hunting knife I had bought at Jacksonville. Before I had gotten the hunting knife, I had owned a hook knife used to butcher hogs, but it was stolen from me. It was too novel for anyone to resist [so] it was not long in my possession. But the hunting knife that replaced this hook knife was adequate to any job, I felt, and I was proud of it. You cannot easily cut a throat with a bayonet; it was too dull. It is a stabbing weapon, anyway. So, most of us bought from our own funds various knives for emergencies, and for cooking. The bayonet was a can opener, and a good one." (page 260) In the near-famine conditions endured by the marines on Guadalcanal, "cooking" could take on a special meaning. "The landing ration bars -- a chocolate bar fortified with mysterious elements known only to the War Department -- were hard slabs guaranteed to contain enough food value to provide energy for a day or two. Ordinarily it took about two days to eat one bar, as they were slightly bitter and served to kill the appetite, rather than satisfy it. When we had canned milk, we prepared a hot drink using the landing ration bars. ... The mix was prepared by shaving the bar with a knife, allowing the thin pieces to fall into an empty canteen cup. This process required about fifteen minutes of careful work, as the shavings had to be thin, or they would not dissolve in the milk. A large-size can of condensed milk was then opened and poured into the canteen cup, which was placed in the fire to heat. Occasional stirring with a bayonet turned the mixture into a rich, thick cocoa unequaled for its food value and ability to kill any known appetite for almost twelve hours." Gallant did not mention what brand of knife he had, but no doubt examples of every brand then available were carried into action by Marines at Guadalcanal, and in other early wartime engagements. A photo in Tregaskis's Guadalcanal Diary shows a headquarters company marine wearing a commercial hunting knife at his belt. This knife, with its aluminum alloy pommel and leather washer handle, could be a Union Ka-Bar, a Case, a Kinfolks, a Marble's, a Remington, a Pal, or perhaps even something else. PICTURES: PRE-WAR KA-BAR COMMERCIAL KNIVES BLAICH / WESTERN "RAIDER" KNIVES Many of the 1st Division Marines who, in June 1942, had boarded rusty old merchant ships in San Francisco, bound for New Zealand, and thence to Guadalcanal, had purchased knives during their brief liberty in the City by the Bay. At the San Francisco Marine Corps depot, then, a popular private purchase knife was the "raider" model sold by the old San Francisco cutlery jobbing firm of Adolph Blaich & Co. ("Blaich" is pronounced the same as "Blake"). Maryland knife collector Carter Rila uncovered this fact, along with original correspondence in the National Archives that details how the Blaich firm endeavored to persuade the Marine Corps formally to adopt an improved version of its knife. In a September 23, 1942, letter to Lt. Col. Clifford H. Shuey in Washington, the Marine Corps engineering officer responsible for developing raider knives, George Seebe, Vice President of Blaich, wrote, "During the past several months we have received many orders and contracts in substantial quantities from the Marine Corps Purchasing Office, 100 Harrison St., San Francisco, for sheath knives of the "raider" type for Post Exchange and other uses." Seebe went on to offer Lt. Col. Shuey a sample of an improved model of this knife. On the 26th Shuey replied, saying send the sample, and inviting a company representative to call on him. On October 6, company president Robert Blaich wrote to Shuey, and sent him samples, both of his current "raider" knife, and of the new version. Toward the end of the month, George Seebe called on C. H. Shuey. This is how Blaich described the two knives: Pattern No. 1677SP-7" is the knife which we have developed and have been delivering for military use. This pattern, with sheath, has been offered @ $2.35. Pattern No. 1678ST-7" is our latest model "Raider" knife, full stiletto type, with blood groove and larger grip. This pattern, with sheath, can be offered @ $2.75 each. Evidently, neither the meeting nor the new knife were satisfactory, because on November 2, Lt. Col. Shuey received a two page letter of excuse and explanation from H. R. Platts, the vice president of the firm that actually made the knives for Blaich, Western States Cutlery Co., Boulder, Colorado. According to Platts, the problem was that the sample knife sent to Shuey was a pattern piece, meant only to demonstrate the lines of the knife. Shuey had assumed it was an actual sample. He had tested the knife pretty strenuously, and it had failed. Shuey's comments on this were not recorded, but he had evidently had a few choice words to say, not just about the knife, but also about its maker's allegedly deficient character, standards, workmanship, methods, materials, and perhaps even patriotism -- because Platts took pains to defend himself and his firm at length on each of these points. Platts concluded by saying, a bit icily, that when Shuey had finally determined the specifications for the new "Commando knives," then under development, Western States and Blaich would appreciate an opportunity to bid on them. I suspect that part of Lt. Col. Shuey's objection to the Blaich / Western States improved "raider" knife is that Shuey himself was the designer of the recently approved Marine Raider's Stiletto (see below), meant to supplant commercial knives like the Blaich. Even when it was first introduced, Shuey's design was widely criticized as inadequate for jungle warfare, and he was no doubt sensitive on this particular topic. Shuey was evidently not involved in the 1219C2 development project. For this article, I interviewed both Harvey Platts, son and successor to H. R. Platts at Western States, and also the surviving principals of the Blaich firm. Although none of us is absolutely certain, all the evidence indicates that the the two patterns of "raider" knives supplied by Blaich were the models Western States designated as their own Nos. L76 and L77, both with 7" blades. The L76 was probably the original pattern (No. 1677SP-7"), and the L77 the "improved," but that is not 100% certain. I have yet to see or hear of one of these knives with BLAICH markings. PICTURES OF L76 AND L77 (courtesy Harvey Platts and Western Cutlery Co.) Despite Shuey's displeasure, the L77 remained a favorite private purchase knife of marines throughout World War II, and on into the 1950s. Harvey Platts recalls overseeing an emergency overnight shipment of 30,000 L77s from the Colorado factory to the San Diego Marine Corps docks in 1950, for immediate issue to units being deployed to Korea. On November 23, 1942, three weeks after Platts's letter to Shuey, Colonel John M. Davis and Major Howard E. America finalized the specifications for the 1219C2 (Knife, Fighting and Utility). Western States eventually was to make a similar though larger knife, the G46 with 8" blade, but never the 7" issue version. MARINE RAIDERS and MARINE PARACHUTISTS When the 1st Division Marines landed on Guadalcanal on August 7, they achieved such complete surprise that they met no resistance at all. The Japanese garrison, mostly construction troops, had been so frightened by the sudden appearance of the assault fleet out of a fog bank, and by its massive naval barrage, that they all fled into the jungle, leaving their airfield, supply dumps, radio station, and field fortifications all intact. This picnic did not last long for the Marines, however, once the Japanese forces set out to regain both the installations and the initiative that they had so recently lost. While the 1st Marine Division was enjoying its initial Guadalcanal walkover, twenty or so miles away, on little Tulagi, Florida, Tanambogo, and Gavutu Islands, assault forces composed of Edson's 1st Marine Raiders, the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, and the 1st Marine Parachute Battalion, were receiving a very different reception. There, for the first time, marines encountered the well dug-in fortifications and fanatical resistance that were to characterize Japanese-held islands for the remainder of the war. Both the Raider and the Parachute Battalions were new organizations in the Marine Corps. The raiders were modeled after the joint U.S.-British Commandos, while the parachutists were modeled after the German Fallschirmjager outfits. Much of the training of the two new types of units was similar, emphasizing hit and run raids. Neither type of unit actually did much raiding in the Pacific Theater, because the vast over-water distances there made most such actions impracticable. The 1st Parachute Battalion was formed at Quantico, Virginia, August 15, 1941. On June 7, 1942, the battalion boarded ship at Norfolk, Virginia, and departed, via the Panama Canal, for New Zealand. Exactly two months later, they went ashore on Gavutu Island. Unlike the First Marine Division landing on nearby Guadalcanal, the 1st Parachute Battalion met serious resistance on Gavutu, but by nightfall the Japanese garrison on the little island had been crushed. That same day, Col. Merritt Edson's 1st Marine Raiders landed on Tulagi Island. They advanced to heavily defended Hill 281. On the following day, August 8, the 1st Parachute Battalion, depleted by heavy casualties, joined other Marine units in the assault on Tanambogo. On the 9th, the battalion moved to Tulagi, which by then had fallen. Tregaskis, in Guadalcanal Diary, described some of the knife action by both sides on these tiny rock islands near Guadalcanal, writing a few days after the battles: Wednesday August 12, 1942, Gavutu "Corp. George F. Grady (of New York City) had charged a group of eight Japs on Gavutu hill by himself. He had killed two with his sub-machine gun; when the gun jammed [it was probably a Reising], he used it as a club to kill one more Jap, and then, dropping his gun, had drawn his sheath knife he carried on his belt and stabbed two more of the enemy, before he was himself killed by the three Japs who remained unharmed." (page 90) August 12, Tanambogo "... on the Tanambogo docks ... we passed two burned out American tanks, ... the vanguard of the landing. The defending Japs had jammed the treads with crowbars, swarmed over the tanks, and set them afire with rags soaked in gasoline. 'The Japs screamed and hollered, and actually beat on the tanks with their fists and knives. ... One of the tank commanders had opened the hatch and killed 27 Nips with a machine gun, before he was stabbed to death.'" A month later, on September 8, the 1st Parachute Battalion joined Edson's 1st Raider Battalion in a raid the Japanese supply bases at Tasimboko village, Guadalcanal. Then the two units moved into the ridge defenses behind Henderson field on Guadalcanal, where between the 11th and the 14th they bore the brunt of the single bloodiest engagement in the course of that campaign. In all these operations, as indeed throughout the rest of the war, the Marine parachutists did not use their parachutes to go into action. In the early weeks of the Guadalcanal campaign, most 1st Raider and 1st Parachute Marines, like the 1st Division Marines, carried whatever commercial sheath knives they had purchased before leaving the United States. However, back in early April, the Marine Quartermaster Depot at Quantico, Virginia, had issued 1,000 "hunting knives" (possibly Blaich "raider" models) to the 1st Raider Battalion. The 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, under Col. Evans Carlson, also carried a motley of commercial hunting knives. On August 17-18, 1942, about two hundred men of the 2nd Raiders staged a widely publicized but strategically insignificant hit and run raid on Japanese held Makin Island in the Gilberts. Carter Rila obtained an August 24, 1942, photo from the National Archives, that shows four men of the 2nd Raiders just back from Makin. They are wearing Springfield bayonets and commercial hunting knives. The man on the right has what appears to be a Union Cutlery Co. Ka-Bar with fancy celluloid handles. The man on the left has a Western States, but only its distinctive pommel shows in the photo. PICTURE OF FOUR MARINES Official Photograph, U.S. Marine Corps (courtesy Carter Rila) In September of 1942, Col. Carlson purchased 1,000 Collins No. 18 machetes, the same type of knife used by the Army Air Force in its tropical bail-out kits since 1934. These were christened "Gung Ho knives" -- "Gung Ho," or "work together," was a slogan of the Chinese Communist 8th Route Army, with which Carlson had served as an "observer" in the 1930s -- and were issued to the 2nd Raiders at Camp Catlin, Hawaii. The 2nd Raiders carried these Gung Ho knives when they were landed on Guadalcanal, November 4-5, 1942. Most of the raiders eventually sold these knives to sailors as souvenirs, obliging Carlson to recall them -- by which time only 300 were left. He reissued this remainder during the Bougainville campaign in 1943. PICTURE OF GUNG HO KNIFE (courtesy M. H. Cole) THE MARINE RAIDER STILETTO It was probably in October or November of 1942 that the Marine Raiders began to be issued their distinctive raider stilettos. In his article, "A New Marine Corps Knife" by Capt. P. D. Carleton, USMCR (Marine Corps Gazette, January 1944), the author starts out by giving the background of this dagger, made on contract by Camillus: "The first official knife adopted by the Marine Corps was a combat weapon designed by Lt. Colonel Clifford H. Shuey, USMC, formerly in charge of the Engineer Division at Marine Corps Headquarters. Patterned after the British commando knife, this weapon was a sturdy all-steel [he meant all-metal] stiletto, 14 inches long, with a short guard and a knurled steel [actually zinc] handle, particularly adapted for use by landing parties and the raider battalions. Though this type of knife had proved admirable for quick raids on the French and Norwegian coasts, and served excellently well the purpose for which it was provided in the Southwest Pacific, it could not be used for both [of] the purposes that any jungle knife must serve: hand-to-hand combat and the daily chores of campaign life; that is, for hacking vines, cutting saplings, or whittling branches; opening cans, preparing food, possibly even for grubbing out foxholes, duties for which the bayonet was awkward and too tender a weapon, and the machete too cumbrous." PICTURE: MARINE RAIDER STILETTO (courtesy M. H. Cole) The inadequacy of the Marine Raider's Stiletto, with its brittle cast zinc handle and fragile Fairbairn style blade, was no barrier to continued production, but it probably accounts for the very limited quantities actually made. The first stiletto contract, for 5,000 knives, had been let back on April 20, 1942. However, the first 1,500 of those knives were not delivered to the Marine Corps Philadelphia Depot until August 6 of that year, just as the 1st Marine Raiders were preparing to go ashore at Blue Beach on Tulagi, half-way round the world. The remaining 3,500 knives were delivered to the Marine Corps San Francisco depot September 1, 1942. These latter were allocated as follows: 909 - 1st Raider Battalion - 9/4/42 909 - 2d Raider Battalion - 9/4/42 760 - 1st Raider Battalion - 9/16/42 407 - 1st Parachute Battalion - 9/16/42 407 - 2d Base Depot - 9/16/42 [evidently for the 2d Parachute Battalion, established two weeks later.] I do not know when the first shipment of Raider daggers actually reached the 1st Raiders and the 1st Parachute Battalion, since in mid-September both of these units were heavily engaged in the Guadalcanal campaign, and virtually cut off from resupply. Eventually 14,370 Raider stilettos were to be made, although it is unlikely that very many Marines, either raiders or riflemen, found them to be of much use. MARINE PARACHUTE KNIVES As evidenced by the chart above, Raider daggers were also issued to the Marine parachutists, whose training and mission was similar to that of the Raiders. The Marine Corps had meanwhile been developing special knives for issue to the parachutists. Prototypes of three versions were made by Camillus on October 30, 1942. Tom Williams of Camillus found the original dated specification cards for these knives, but we do not know how many were actually made, or if any were ever issued. [Western States made a commercial and PX version called the W31.] By the end of 1942, it had become clear to Navy and Marine Corps planners that the United States did not have adequate aircraft or bases to mount parachute assaults in the Pacific, so the Marine parachutists, like the raiders, were thenceforth only used in amphibious operations. Probably for this reason, plans to make special Marine parachutist's knives were abandoned. The #1 and #2 parachutist knives differed only in that the #1 had nickel silver bolsters. Both were practical 8-1/4 inch spear point knives with 3-7/8 inch blades. Their blades were stainless steel, perhaps a first among U.S. military knives. Their handle scales were rosewood, secured by two brass rivets. The bolsters of the #1 were secured by two nickel silver rivets. DRAWINGS OF #1 AND #2 PARACHUTIST The #3 parachutist was a silly-looking little bowie style hunting knife. It was 7-1/2 inches long, and had a 3-7/8 inch clip point stainless steel blade. The cross-guard was cold rolled steel. The handles were jigged rosewood secured by two brass rivets. All three knives had their handles drilled with 7/32 inch lanyard holes, and all three had leather sheaths. Any of these three little knives would now be a valuable collector's item. DRAWING OF #3 PARACHUTIST The 1st Parachute Battalion was withdrawn from Guadalcanal on September 18, 1942. In January 1943 it arrived at Noumea, New Guinea. There it was combined with the 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions, from the West Coast, to form the 1st Parachute Regiment. The regiment served in the Bougainville campaign. Then it returned to San Diego, where it was disbanded February 29, 1944. The 1st Parachute Battalion then became the nucleus of the 5th Marine Division. [added 8/15/2000 The Camillus Marine paratrooper knives were made only in prototype, and I doubt any still exist. The Western parachutist knife is the only version that was manufactured, as far as I know now, and it was a PX knife, probably never issued -- but I can't be certain it wasn't.] AT LAST, THE 1219C2 In his 1944 article, quoted earlier, Captain Carleton went on to give the background of the new Marine Corps knife, the one that was destined to supplant all the others: "Colonel John M. Davis, of the division of Plans and Policies, and Major Howard E. America, of the Supply Division of the Quartermaster's Department, undertook the task of designing a knife that could fill all demands that could be made upon it. In cooperation with knife manufacturers, they evolved the form of the present knife by a long process of careful experimentation and test, and set up the final specifications. The necessity for speed and shortages of critical materials made it essential that the type chosen conform in methods of manufacture to those already in use so that the contractors could use existing machinery and materials at hand, and not have to waste precious time in retooling. ... "After a handmade sample embodying all the features desired was produced through the cooperation of one of the knife manufacturers [Union Cutlery Company, Ka-Bar brand], it was offered to various officers returning from Guadalcanal prior to its final adoption, and was considered by them as the ideal knife for the purposes desired. The [Marine Corps] Commandant authorized the production of the knife on 23 November, 1942; on 27 January, 1943, the first shipment of 2100 knives to fill the most urgent needs was nearing its destination." PICTURE OF 1219C2 (courtesy of M. H. Cole) ****** END ****** 8/15/2000 Let me point that there are a few errors in my article. Most important, when I said: " In the early weeks of the Guadalcanal campaign, most 1st Raider and 1st Parachute Marines, like the 1st Division Marines, carried whatever commercial sheath knives they had purchased before leaving the United States. However, back in early April, the Marine Quartermaster Depot at Quantico, Virginia, had issued 1,000 "hunting knives" (possibly Blaich "raider" models) to the 1st Raider Battalion...." I was not yet aware that the Marine Corps and the Army Engineers had purchased quantities of "Hunting Knives" from Camillus and Utica. These were probably the knives issued then at Quantico. These are shown in Camillus factory WWII records, 1942-43. I had these when I wrote the article, but I just hadn't studied them carefully yet, or realized their importance. Frank Traszka, who has known about these almost as long as I have, says he has found three of the Camillus rosewood, and one bone. He has also found a few Camillus commercial versions, with a different rivet layout and different sheath. Apparently at least some of these were issued to the Marines early on, but gov't purchase of them seems to have stopped in early 1943, as the 1219C2/Mark 2 had replaced them. I sent these pictures to Warren Jones, and the very next weekend he went to a gun show and found a near mint Camillus of the type bought by the USMC, with the USMC type sheath which is different than the commercial sheath -- heavier made, more rivets, different location for the keeper strap -- though not marked USMC (none of these hunting knives were gov't marked). http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/warrenjones5665.jpg BRL... My knife-related links page: http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/links.htm edited 3/18/2003