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Ludovicus M. M. Van Iersel
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Sergeant Ludovicus M. M. Van Iersel
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| Born | October 19, 1893 Dussen, Netherlands |
| Died | June 9, 1987 (aged 93) Sierra Madre, California, US |
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| Allegiance | United States |
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| Rank | Sergeant |
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Ludovicus Maria Matheus Van Iersel (19 October 1893 – 9 June 1987) was a Sergeant in United States Army, Company M, 9th Infantry, 2d Division during World War I. He earned the highest military decoration for valor in combat—the Medal of Honor—for having distinguished himself at Mouzon, France.
Born in Dussen the Netherlands, Van Iersel served on several merchant ships following the outbreak of the war. Van Iersel arrived in New Jersey in early 1917, enlisting in the army shortly afterwards. He learned English in his first few months of military service.
He became a naturalised American citizen in September 1919, six months after receiving the Medal of Honor, and changed his name to Louis Van Iersel. After acquiring citizenship he returned to his birth country and married Hendrika de Ronde (1899–1979) in August 1920. They returned to the United States later that month and settled in California a year later. In 1946 he and his wife settled in Sierra Madre, California.
During World War II, he joined the Marine Corps and served with the 3rd Marine Division in the Bougainville Campaign.
He and his wife Hendrika are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia.[1]
Medal of Honor citation
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- Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company M, 9th Infantry, 2d Division.
- Place and date: At Mouzon, France, 9 November 1918.
- Entered service at: Glen Rock, New Jersey.
- Birth: the Netherlands.
- General Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 34 (March 7, 1919)
Citation:
While a member of the reconnaissance patrol, sent out at night to ascertain the condition of a damaged bridge, Sgt. Van Iersel volunteered to lead a party across the bridge in the face of heavy machinegun and rifle fire from a range of only 75 yards. Crawling alone along the debris of the ruined bridge he came upon a trap, which gave away and precipitated him into the water.
In spite of the swift current he succeeded in swimming across the stream and found a lodging place among the timbers on the opposite bank. Disregarding the enemy fire, he made a careful investigation of the hostile position by which the bridge was defended and then returned to the other bank of the river, reporting this valuable information to the battalion commander.
Military awards
van Iersel’s military decorations and awards include:[2][3]
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| 1st row | Medal of Honor | Purple Heart | |||||||
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| 2nd row | World War I Victory Medal w/ one silver service star to denote credit for the Aisne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector battle clasps. | Army of Occupation of Germany Medal | Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/one bronze service star for the Consolidation of Northern Solomons campaign | ||||||
| 3nd row | World War II Victory Medal | Médaille militaire (French Republic) | Croix de guerre 1914–1918 w/two bronze palms and one silver star (French Republic) | ||||||
| 4th row | Croce al Merito di Guerra (Italy) | Medal for Military Bravery (Kingdom of Montenegro) | Sea Gallantry Medal.[4][5] (Great Britain) | ||||||
| Unit Award | French Fourragère – Authorized permanent wear based on three French Croix de Guerre with Palm unit citations awarded the 9th Infantry Regiment for Chateau-Thierry, Aisne-Marne and Meuse-Argonne | ||||||||
Categories
Better Than The M14? (JRA BM-59)
Dave opening fire at a long-range handgun event. He’d never remove the hammer spur on his double-action wheelgun.
The late Elmer Keith perhaps summed it up best when he observed, early in Sixguns by Keith, “We have seen big holster guns with both the hammer spur and the front of the guard cut away, and see no reason for so ruining a fine gun. The hammer spur is necessary if singe action aimed fire is called for, which is often the case in defense work.
“Any time you have to hit a distant target,” he explained, “be it man or automobile, you can do a better job by cocking the gun, taking deliberate aim and squeezing off the shot properly.”
Hammer of a Smith & Wesson double-action revolver. It’s there to allow for precision shots when the need arises.
Everyone knows Keith as the father of long-range handgunning, and his prowess with large-bore single- and double-action sixguns is indisputable, as he did quite a bit of shooting in front of witnesses.
Having personally watched other feats of handgun marksmanship performed by people I consider incredibly good shooters—all firing in single-action mode with their double-action revolvers—they would have been severely disadvantaged had they bobbed the hammers on their guns.
Experience makes it difficult to argue with Keith’s observations. Having taken big and small game with double-action revolvers, and participated in long range handgun shoots where precision is a necessity, the notion of bobbing a revolver hammer has never found even a lukewarm place anywhere near my heart.
Besides, without hammer spurs, what would we do with hammer thongs on holsters, or thumb breaks, or snap straps?
Left, hammer on a Ruger Blackhawk. Right, hammer on a Colt Python. Hammer spurs have plenty of surface on which to get a decent purchase with your thumb.
Stay Hammered
Surprising as it may seem, a fair number of younger, or at least new, handgun owners have very little—if any—experience with wheelguns. This is not a bad thing, it’s merely a sign of the times, with far more semiautomatic pistols being available to today’s consumers.
However, interest in revolvers does seem to be picking up (it may be cyclic), and when someone asks me about shooting sixguns, my counsel is to begin with a model which has an exposed hammer. It’s for a good reason, of course. Someone new to revolvers should first learn careful, accurate shooting and that begins with single-action practice. One round at a time, slowly at first, and picking up speed over time. Accuracy and confidence will improve along the way.
Note how the thumb surface is fully engaged with the checkered hammer. New revolver shooters should learn accuracy by shooting single-action.
At a very young age, while learning to shoot with a double-action rimfire revolver, I tried the D/A approach only once, missing a tin can repeatedly until I was sternly told to fire single-action while trying to master the gun. “Cock it. Ya got thumbs for a reason!”
Sure enough, my handgun marksmanship gradually improved over time. It is doubtful I’d have progressed as rapidly, had I been stuck learning with a double-action only model. Like it or not, it is not easy for a new shooter to keep the sights on target while pressing a trigger which may require 10 pounds or more of finger pressure. By contrast, single-action letoff on a double-action revolver can be as light as 3-4 pounds, which makes it imperative to keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
Dave put the caliper on the hammer of a Model 19 S&W. At nearly a third of an inch, there’s plenty of cocking surface for thumb contact.
Hammer Dimensions
I’ve been blessed over the years to own or at least shoot some very fine revolvers from Smith & Wesson, Colt and Ruger, along with models from Charter Arms and Taurus. My brother owns a couple of dandy Ruger double-action models, one a Redhawk in .44 Magnum and the other a nice GP100 in .357 Magnum on which I once installed a replacement rear sight blade. Wheelguns sort of run in the family.
The target-type hammer spurs on my Colt Python and Diamondback revolvers are wide enough for a superb thumb purchase on the flats. The checkered Python hammer measured (with my caliper) 0.494-inch, while the Diamondback’s serrated hammer flat was just a hair narrower at 0.457-inch. Meanwhile, the checkered hammer on my N-frame Smith was a healthy 0.497-inch wide, while on the smaller K-frame gun, the hammer measured 0.373-inch wide. Anyone who can’t contact one of these surfaces isn’t trying very hard.
Notice where the trigger of this double-action revolver is positioned with the hammer down.
A double-action shot would require at least 10 pounds of pressure on the trigger …
In Keith’s autobiography, Hell, I Was There!, he described the dimensions of the hammers and triggers on a pair of N-frame .41 Magnums sent to him by S&W on the eve of a polar bear hunt back in 1964.
“Just as Charley Shedd and I were leaving for the Arctic and our polar bear hunt,” he wrote, “a pair of 4-inch Smith & Wesson Magnums, with target sights, and triggers trimmed to 3/8-inch, the hammers cut back about ¼-inch, arrived.”
For comparison, the narrower hammers on my Ruger Blackhawk and New Vaquero single-action models measured 0.292-inch, both with serrated cocking surfaces. People have been cocking single-action and double-action hammers for generations.
It may almost seem like blasphemy to fans of bobbed hammers, but when the hammer spur is removed, you lose the option of cocking for a precision single-action shot. This has never made sense to me.
… However, with the hammer at full cock, only 2-4 pounds of pressure is necessary to allow the hammer to drop and touch off a round.
A Place for DAO
I happen to own one (1) revolver designed as a double-action-only model, a 5-shot Smith & Wesson Model 442. Capable of handling +P loads, it makes for a discreet carry gun and is capable of reasonable accuracy at close range. However, for precision work, I’d grab either my K-frame Model 19 or N-frame Model 57, both with longer barrels and adjustable rear sights.
Even Keith acknowledged a use for DAO guns when he wrote, “Only the small double action guns should ever have the hammer spur removed,” adding this caveat, “If a true pocket gun is wanted, the Smith & Wesson Centennial or the Colt Detective Special with a hammer shroud, are the best choice.”
There is a compromise, of sorts, with the S&W Model 38 Bodyguard, which has an integral hammer shroud built onto the frame. The cocking surface of the hammer is still exposed in a narrow channel, so the hammer may be cocked for a single-action shot.
Dave considers the setup on the S&W Bodyguard to be the perfect compromise for people who prefer double-action shooting. The exposed hammer rides in a channel on top of the frame, which has an integral hump to prevent the hammer from getting fouled if the revolver is carried in a pocket.
Some years ago, Bianchi offered a rubber replacement grip called the Lightning, which fit on a round butt Model 19 S&W, likewise shrouding the hammer. Colt offered shrouds for the Detective Special and Cobra years ago, as well. While writing this article, I happened to find a couple of used Lightning grips for the Model 19, for sale online.
When one needs to fire fast for close range defensive shooting, double-action is definitely the best option. In an emergency, thanks to adrenaline, you might not notice the stiffer DA trigger, and at close range, say 7 to 10 yards, the odds of missing are diminished.
Still, to properly get started shooting revolvers, it’s my humble opinion that starting off single-action and working up to double action is the right sequence of events, and when one is ready for double-action-only, I’ll just beg a little here and suggest you purchase a DAO model and don’t de-horn the hammer on your existing sidearm.
Now, without a hammer spur, just what would we do with all of those western hammer thongs…
Or the safety straps on millions of holsters? A terrible waste of leather!
It may seem like a good idea at the time, but I have lost count of the number of social media posts I’ve read from people wondering where they can get replacement hammers for revolvers they’ve either purchased or somehow otherwise wound up possessing.
I’m okay with the likelihood some folks might disagree. My sixguns still have their horns.