My dad is not into guns and never owned one till one day he saw a henry commercial on tv. He looked at me and asked if the henry guns were any good, I told him yes made a few calls found a big boy 44mag in stock. The next day we went on a road trip with dad not knowing what the trip was for. We pulled into the gun shop we walked in I point out that they have the henry that he wants. While he is looking at it I tell him that it's his. Dad about teared up because he could not afford it and knew he would never own one . He was like a kid that just got a new bike. After we got back and shot a few rounds I ask dad that the only thing I wanted from him was to leave the henry to my son when when he passes. My dad and I don't see very many things the same way but I know that he was on cloud 9 for about 3-4 months because that's all he talked was the henry. Over the last 20 years that is the most bonding we have done was the drive to the gun shop and shooting the gun. I hope that my son understands the meaning of the henry when he gets it.
This story is only 4 years old, which is when my brother retired from the Air Force. My brother entered the AF at a very young age and his first three years he spent most of his time out alone in the field and immediately became a part of the Gulf War. Every so often he would call me to make small chat. He even called me during the war a bit scared with fear, and sometimes he would say how tired he was. Nonetheless he said thats where he wanted to be and if anything happened not to worry. In short I encouraged my brother, and during those years we shared a few tears. A week or so after be retired we had a little welcome home, dinner. While were cooking and drinking beer he pulls out a box and says, " here's a gift for always being there." My brother remembered and said thanks for the talks. To my suprise it was a brand new XD .40 one for me and one for himself. Thats scared little kid also become a crew member of a B52. Later a Crew Chief of B52, B1, A117 B2...and spent his latter years instructing and as an interpritor. My brother said the Air Force was more than he ever thought it would be never thinking he would see combat on the ground and in the air he saw and took part in it all.
My Tokarev TT-33 pistol is my one "War Trophy" from my visit to RVN over 50 years ago. No great war stories, I bought the gun for $25 in MPC from our houseboy at Bien Hoa just before I left. I just stuck it in my duffle bag with all my clothing. No one seemed to care enough to ask, or search my bag when we arrived in Hawaii....Flying Tigers Airline Lockheed Constellation. Anyway It was made in the USSR in 1940, then took 22 years to find it's way to me in Saigon. I would love to be able to trace it's path for those years, but that is lost in the fog of history.
I have sold too many guns that have a special meaning to me. Glad I kept this one.
Just built it this year, but the upper holds a very special place in my heart. It saved my life in Iraq. As I was training up for my last deployment, we inherited our M4s from a unit returning from deployment. They were in horrible shape, broken parts, rust... We all complained about it, myself included. (I know, not a good thing to have the troops hearing an NCO *****) To my surprise, one of the people I had vented to, my mother, ordered me an Arms Tech 9.5" Compak 16 upper I had been lusting over. (God bless her) I got approval of my CO to bring my own upper to mount on my M4. You still almost never get approval to bring a privately owned firearm, but this was just a "part" as I convinced him. I think the fact that is had been bought by a soldiers mother helped to sway his mind. (This was to be my 3rd combat deployment, and a mother was concerned for her son.)
This upper accounted for 6 of the enemy, being aimed by the EoTech. (very fast on target for a right hander with left eye dominance) I added a GG&G rail system and sights to it during the deployment. (ordered on the interwebs from MWR) Bad part was I got permission to bring it to Iraq, but getting it back home was a nightmare. I had to ship it home in the conex with the arms room crap. It was confiscated, and took me 6 months to get clearance to come pick it up. They had it at Stout Field. After getting it home I put the rail system foregrip and sights on an AR I built for my son. He loves the fact that I had used these parts in Iraq. I put the uppers original Vortec flash suppressor on my 16" and built the upper into a pistol. Fun as it was, the pistol was not practical. Took 8 months to get my stamp, but I was finally able to put it together as a SBR. I wanted to duplicate the weapon I had carried into combat, but my boy didn't want to give up his parts, so I put a POF rail on it then added the KX3 and Troy tritium night sights. The upper, and barrel remains original. Of all my firearms, this is the one they will get only after they "pry it from my cold dead hands". Complicated part will be figuring how to pass it on to my son... I should have went with a trust.
Here it is in it's original form on my M4 lower complete with Beta C-mag and Surefire light. The weapon functioned flawlessly in theater, and continues to so far at home.