The crack infantry of the US Marine Corps were linked administratively to the US Navy rather than the Army. Their tactical employment, and details of their clothing and equipment, also distinguished them from the bulk of America's foot-soldiers. They specialised in amphibious assault, and were employed almost exclusively in the Pacific theatre of operations. During the savage and costly 'island-hopping' counteroffensive against the Japanese, which lasted three and a half years, they became renowned for their fighting qualities and their tenacity, at a heavy cost in lives.
This Marine is armed with a 45.caliber Thompson submachine gun. On his belt are webbing magazine pouches. Opposite the pouches is a Ka-Bar knife. Marines depended on it for a combat weapon and for such everyday tasks as pounding tent stakes, driving nails, opening ration cans, digging foxholes, and of course, defending their lives.
A trapper in the late 1800s, wrote, in very rough English, that his gun had jammed and that he had therefore relied on his knife to kill a wounded bear that was attacking him. In thanking the company for their quality product, the trapper described using his knife to "kill a bar." The way his writing was scrawled across the paper it looked like "ka bar." The company adapted his writing and adopted it as their trademark, KA-BAR. |
