“Tag: Thompson Submachine Gun”

Shortly after President Kennedy increased military aid to South Vietnam, crates of Thompsons were on their way to Southeast Asia, providing yet another chance for the Tommy gun to serve.

Whether dropped deep behind enemy lines or fighting as conventional infantry, American airborne troopers during World War II trusted their lives to their rifles, pistols, submachine guns and automatic rifles.

The Chicago Typewriter Thompson Tribute gun is issued exclusively by America Remembers and chronicles the fascinating era of the gangsters and lawmen of the 1920s and '30s.

Watch this "I Have This Old Gun" segment from a recent episode of American Rifleman TV, as editors examine the iconic Thompson M1A1 Submachine Gun.

Every gun collector has a pet passion, a particular niche where he or she feels most at home. Gordon Herigstad’s passion was the Colt Thompson submachine gun, however, unlike most collectors, Herigstad did the community of collectors a big favor—he wrote down everything he knew about Thompsons and published it.

So, when was the Thompson submachine gun first fired in combat? Was it during the June 1921 West Virginia “coal wars” or perhaps even earlier?

In September 1944, American and British airborne troops jumped into Nazi-occupied Holland in a desperate gamble to end the Second World War by Christmas.

In 1921, “Marching Miners” squared off against mine owners and the “Logan County Defenders” in the mountains of West Virginia in one of the biggest labor disputes-and battles-to occur on United States soil, and one in which Thompson submachine guns loomed large.

The iconic Thompson Submachine Gun was the main Allied submachine gun in the critical early years of World War II. From Bataan to the Kasserine Pass, and from Normandy to Okinawa, the “Tommy Gun” served American troops well.