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Paired Up. The Weapons of Capt. Rolfness |
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jangle
On Point Joined: Jan 13 2016 Location: Ohio Status: Offline Points: 147 |
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Posted: Oct 16 2022 at 10:32am |
Great article, and happy for you, that you were able to put these items back together!
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Bigheavy31
On Point Joined: Aug 24 2020 Location: Asheville NC Status: Offline Points: 135 |
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Very well researched, and great detective work getting the two guns back together.
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carbinekid
On Point Joined: Jan 24 2016 Location: SE Michigan Status: Offline Points: 438 |
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Excellent. Well put together write up. It’s the best part of this hobby in my opinion when we can preserve not only these great guns, but also the individual stories of the veterans that used them. Well done!
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GotSnlB28
Hard Corps Joined: Jan 01 2016 Location: WI Status: Offline Points: 896 |
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Great article, well done Glen!
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hunterman
On Point Joined: Jan 01 2016 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 307 |
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2022-F Paired Up The Weapons of Captain Stanley C. Rolfness Stanley
C. Rolfness was born February 5, 1913, in the silver mining town of
Burke, Idaho. Today Burke is a ghost town, having reached its peak
population of 1400 in 1910. The decline of Burke resulted in the
Rolfness family moving to Portland, Oregon, where Stanley grew up. He
graduated high school in 1931 from Benson Polytechnic High School (the
largest high school in Oregon). According to his family, he was selected
All-State halfback in football and vice president of his class his
senior year. As well as lettering in football, he also lettered in
soccer. After
graduation, he received a full football scholarship to Oregon State
College. 1931 was the darkest year of the great depression in the United
States. Rolfness was the first and only member of his family of 3 boys
and 1 girl, to go to college. He started majoring in chemical
engineering but later changed to a food technology major. Rolfness
was on the 1933 OSC team that was well known as “The Iron Men” because
of its feat of breaking the great 25-game winning streak of Southern
California with a 0-0 tie. In
1934, he lost his scholarship due to an injury incurred during a car
accident, so he had to drop out of college. But later, he continued his
education and graduated in 1937 with a Bachelor of Science degree and
was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. He was
assigned to the 91st infantry division, U.S. Army Reserve. On
December 12, 1937, he married Mary Maxine Allen, also a graduate of
OSC. Rolfness stayed in school and received his master's degree in food
technology in 1939. In 1940, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. When
Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, Rolfness was working in Chicago,
Illinois for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) writing
pamphlets on food processing. His employers at the USDA decided that
because of his education and his expertise in food handling and
processing, Rolfness’ civilian job had been classified as essential to
the government and he would not be released for military service. Stanley
Rolfness considered this for a while, then resigned his job with the
USDA, and moved back to Oregon where he joined up with the 91st Infantry
Division in March of 1942 at Camp White, Medford, Oregon. He became
the commanding officer of an infantry company. By August 1942, the
division was at full strength and was training hard. In
January 1943, Rolfness received orders to report to the Presidio, San
Francisco, California for transportation to Australia. Since his unit,
the 91st Division, was ready for deployment, he felt he was probably
going to be part of the advance party. Not to be. In
late March 1943, the 91st Division was sent to Italy. Rolfness was
attached to General MacArthur's staff (Special Section) now
headquartered in Brisbane, Australia. His primary job was to visit and
instruct all of Australia's and New Zealand's canneries that were
providing food for the allied armies. He was to determine why they were
having problems with food poisoning. He also taught them how to make
SPAM. He did this for all of 1943 and the first four months of 1944. At
this time, he was assigned to the 41st Infantry Division Quartermaster
Corps. Also in early 1943, Rolfness was promoted to Captain. Then
in May of 1944, he was sent to Camp 'H' in Papua New Guinea and helped
establish a major supply base. In September 1944, he was sent to Biak
Island, a small island located near the Northern coast of New Guinea, to
help set up a major supply base to support General MacArthur's invasion
of the Philippines. Rolfness
was initially an XO of a supply battalion and then later a CO of the
same unit until the end of hostilities in August 1945. Stanley
Rolfness’ two older brothers were senior Navy enlisted personnel by the
end of WWII. Both brothers had completed tours on the USS Arizona
battleship just prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Rolfness' two
brothers-in-law served in Germany in 1944 and 1945. One was an ROTC 1st
Lieutenant, and the other a Sergeant. All survived the War. After the war, Stanley C. Rolfness again worked for the USDA. He died December 29, 1995, and is buried in Umatilla County, Oregon. In 1943, while stationed in Brisbane, Australia, Rolfness was issued a Remington Rand 1911A1 45 ACP and an Underwood M1 Carbine. Then, later in that same year, he was issued a Remington Model 11, 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun. In
2015, I purchased the Underwood carbine from Stanley A. Rolfness, Jr.,
son of Capt. Rolfness and himself a retired Army Major. The seller
provided his father’s military and education information. He mentioned
he had earlier sold his father’s Remington Rand 1911A1 to another buyer
in my home state. Thinking
I could maybe obtain the pistol also, I asked for the buyer’s contact
information. When I phoned the buyer of the pistol, I was told he had
already sold the gun and the owner was not interested in parting with
his new purchase.In 2021, I sold an early Inland M1 Carbine to a collector in a face-to-face meeting. He made the statement that while he liked carbines, his true passion was the 1911. When we compared notes, it became apparent he was the first purchaser of the Remington Rand from Roffness’ son. He even had a letter from the vet’s son that mentioned selling me the Underwood. He provided me with the receipt from Rolfness showing the serial number of the Remington Rand. He
also gave me the name and address of the person who bought the pistol
from him. When I tried to contact the second buyer, I found he had
passed away. As a last-ditch effort, I posted the serial number of the
Remington Rand on a couple of related forums. A sharp CMP friend found
the pistol on Pre98. It had been sold in 2017 and the photos were still
up on the website. I phoned Pre98 and explained I was looking for that
particular pistol. At first, they were skeptical but I convinced them I
had the carbine, serial number of the Remington Rand, and the
provenance. I asked them to contact the buyer to see if he was still
the current owner and, if so, would he sell the 1911A1. The response
was he wouldn’t sell but would trade for the same gun in like
condition. After several weeks, I decided the task of finding another
Remington Rand that would be accepted by someone I had not even
communicated with would be difficult. I made a last cash offer through
Pre98, and the owner accepted my offer. Pre98 supposedly sweetened the
deal by selling him another desirable firearm as part of the
transaction. Underwood 1359814 Underwood
Elliot Fisher’s first serial number block began at 1350000. Underwood
1359814 was one of the first 9000 UEF manufactured. This
early Underwood has a Type 1 stock (I-cut, high wood) and is marked in
the sling well with an RMC, F, T, and smoking bomb. There is no
acceptance stamp on the right side of the stock. The
M1 Carbine has the characteristic Underwood light park, which shows up
in striking contrast to the blued Underwood flat bolt. The
trigger housing is Type 2, with a rear bevel only, and with the
spring-loaded trigger house pin. According to CC NL #127, Type 2
trigger housings began to replace Type 1 (double bevel) at approximately
1360000. Uncommon Type 1 dogleg hammer The hammer and other trigger components are nicely blued. The
sear has been ground and etched with “.U.” as reported on the Carbine
Collectors Club Forum
http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/Forum/early-underwood-sears_topic5196_page1.html.
This apparently was an alteration by the manufacturer. The 11-42 Underwood barrel has the long-legged, large P Underwood proof. The S-marked Type 1 rear sight has a U-stamped leaf. Remington Rand 1007294 Remington
Rand (serial number 1007294) is a somewhat hard-to-find 1911A1
variation, due to some changes initiated by the manufacturer in early
and mid-1943. The pistol has “Du-Lite” bluing finish applied over a
sand-blasted surface. Remington Rand’s switch from Du-Lite to
parkerizing took place in August 1943. The
slide has Type 2 markings characterized by the 1-3/8” length of the
stamp, the abbreviation of “New York”, and the addition of “U.S.A.” According to Collector’s Guide to Colt .45 Service Pistols Models 1911 and 1911 A1, 3rd Edition, by Charles W. Clawson, Type 2 slides were used on serial numbers from approximately 935000 intermittently through 1016000. The
serial number on the receiver is preceded by “NO” (all uppercase).
This is a change from the earlier “No” before the serial number.
Implementation of the “NO” variation coincides with a change in
Remington Rand’s manufacturing operations to reduce the number of
rejections. Clawson also states, “Remington Rand pistols numbered from about 955000 to about 1016000 will be found with either the old or new serial number prefix.” The left side of the receiver bears a “P” proof and the inspector’s mark of FJA (Col. Frank J. Atwood.) The main spring housing is the early checkered variation. Another proof mark is on top of the slide, forward of the rear sight. And on the High Standard barrel. Other inspector's markings. Feed ramp in the white The Carbine Collectors Club Copyright© 2022 www.USCarbineCal30.com This article and/or its images are the property of the author and or the Carbine Collectors Club. They're not to be distributed or for commercial use without prior written permission (Title 17, Chapter 5, Section 501(a) U.S. Code) Edited by New2brass - Oct 15 2022 at 8:42am |
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