One of our great unsung Heroes & one of the Old Breed of the American Army. Sadly they don’t build them like that anymore! GrumpyThe Chinese never stood a chance with him in the fight!
Category: Hard Nosed Folks Both Good & Bad
Now there was a REAL Soldier!
Yeah his Dad was that Theodore Roosevelt! Sadly only Terry Allen survived the war as both Patton & Roosevelt died. TR from a heart attack after he was awarded the M.O.H.. Patton died from a car crash. They just don’t build them like they used to! Grumpy
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Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was never meant to be a distant figure on D-Day. A brigadier general and assistant commander of the 4th Infantry Division, he refused to stay behind. At 56 — older than most men in the invasion — and burdened by severe arthritis and a weakened heart, his superiors urged him not to go. He ignored them.
Roosevelt insisted on landing with the first wave at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. He believed a leader’s place was not in safety, but beside his men—especially at the moment it mattered most. It was a principle his father had lived by, and one he felt bound to uphold. Cane in hand, he stepped onto the landing craft.
When they hit the shore, nothing went as planned. The troops had landed nearly a mile south of their intended position. Units were scattered. Confusion spread under enemy fire. It could have unraveled quickly. Roosevelt didn’t panic. He took one look at the situation and made a decision that would define the day. “We’ll start the war from right here.”
With that, he moved forward — personally directing troops, reorganizing units, and pushing the assault inland. Amid the chaos, his calm presence became an anchor. Soldiers who recognized him saw not just a general, but a man sharing their risk, standing exactly where they stood. What could have been a disaster became a coordinated advance.
Roosevelt survived the landing. But the cost followed him. Just over a month later, on July 12, 1944, he died of a heart attack in Normandy. The strain of the campaign had been too much. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day. Today, he lies buried at the Normandy American Cemetery — beside his younger brother Quentin, who was killed in World War I.
Front page of program for the 1976 Outstanding American Handgunner of the Year program with contributor Bill Sander’s name tag and Bill Jordan’s.
Imagine if you will, it’s 1976. It’s the Bicentennial of our country. Disco was king, Jimmy Carter was elected president, bell-bottoms were the rage, and Pet Rocks were the craze, showing us how gullible we were.
Despite these crazy generational flops and follies, there was one meaningful and positive event happening: the Fourth Annual Outstanding American Handgunner Awards. The event was held at the McCormick Inn in Chicago, Illinois. It was the Golden Era of the Handgun Industry.
The event was held at the McCormick Inn in Chicago, Illinois. It was the Golden Era of the Handgun Industry.
Just three short years prior, Lee Jurras, Owner of Super-Vel ammunition, started the Outstanding American Handgunner Awards Foundation.
The foundation was designed to recognize worthy participants who made major contributions in the World of Handgunning. Jurras served as the first chairman and was followed in succession over the years by other industry friends.
Jurras personally commissioned and paid for the first 10 bronze statues awarded to the winners each year, along with all other expenses for the banquet. Over the years, the list of winners reads like a virtual Who’s Who of Handgunning. The first winner, of course, in 1973, was Elmer Keith.
Page 2 with the Master of Ceremonies and the guest speaker.
Program Trail
I was contacted by Special Projects Editor Roy Huntington. He informed me of an interesting proposition. It seems gun enthusiast Bill Sander was referred to Roy by gun writer Rob Garret.
Bill had the good fortune of attending the Outstanding American Handgunner Award banquet back in 1976 and still had the program. Only this program was special, as it was autographed by all the people whose photographs appeared in said program. On the front cover of said program is Bill’s name tag, along with Bill Jordan’s, as he was a nominee for the Award.
Sander told me he had the chance to speak with Jordan after the banquet and stated he was very cordial. Sander asked Jordan what he was going to do with his name tag, and Jordan replied, “Probably throw it out.” Sander asked if he could have the name tag, and Jordan replied, “Sure.” Sander quickly added it to the front of his program. Sander describes himself as a gun aficionado, collector and member of the Ohio Gun Collectors for over 50 years. He was an FFL holder and motorcycle dealer.
Skeeter Skelton had his own page.
Past Recipients
In 1976, there were already three recipients of the prestigious award. Elmer Keith won the first award in 1973. Col. Charles Askins was the second, and Bill Ruger was the third recipient.
Up for nomination for the 1976 banquet was Gun Digest Editor in Chief John Amber, technical expert and gun writer George Nonte, handgun stock maker Steve Herrett, retired Border Patrol Asst. Chief Bill Jordan, and lastly, beloved gun writer Skeeter Skelton.
Jordan was awarded the prestigious trophy in 1976. Herrett and Skelton would eventually earn the trophy in later years.
Explanation of the selection committee.
Board of Directors.
Ghosts of Yesteryear
Reading through this old program stirs many memories and thoughts, reminding us of the way things used to be. They were certainly the good old days. Imagine how special it would be to witness such men seated under the same roof. I’m sure the conversation was loud and boisterous, both the result of being hard of hearing and the giant personalities in the room.
Our own John Taffin had the pleasure to serve as chairman of this fine organization from 1992 to 1999, stating, “When, due to many things (such as lack of industry support), we decided to close the awards. Lee’s dream was shut down, and he was very disappointed.”
Dot Taffin relayed that John never received the award as he was the chairman and didn’t want any controversy over his receiving it. This sounds just like John, a man of immense integrity. But he was certainly worthy of such recognition in my book.
Past Recipients
1973- Elmer Keith
1974- Col. Charles Askins
1975- Wiliam B. Ruger
1976- Bill Jordan
1977- Harlon Carter
1978- Skeeter Skelton
1979- Lee Jurras
1980- Warren Center
1981- Steve Herrett
1982- Hal Swiggett
1983- J.D. Jones
1984- Larry Kelly
1985- Frank Pachmayr
1986- John Bianchi
1987- Elgin Gates
1988- Dick Casull
1989- Dean Grenell
1990- Jim Clarke
1991- Bob Milek
1992- Bill Blankenship
1993-Harry Reeves
1994- Roy Jinks
1995- Col. Jeff Cooper
1996- Col. Rex Applegate
1997- Col. Walter Walsh
1998- Massad Ayoob
1999- Gil Hebard
Skeeter Skelton’s Trophy at the Handgunner Hall of Fame at Mag-Na-Port, Intl.
Larry Kelly’s Award in his office at Mag-Na-Port, Intl.
Bill Jordan’s trophy in Raton, NM, once owned
by Mike “Madbo” Hutyra.
End of an Era
The Outstanding American Handgunner Award was discontinued in 1999. As the Industry grew, it became more complicated choosing a single individual without offending so many other worthy recipients. But looking back, we can see the kind of men the gun Industry once held during the Golden Age of Handgunnery. For this, we can be proud.
I’ve been fortunate to see the trophies of Skeeter Skelton, Bill Jordan and Larry Kelly. The nice thing about history is it never changes, and shouldn’t. That’s why it’s important to keep passing down these events, stories, pictures and ceremonies.
The Handgunner Hall of Fame is in the lobby of Mag-Na-Port, Intl. in Mt. Clemens, MI. Stop by if you’re ever in the area to visit, see Larry Kelly’s game room, and visit with Ken Kelly and his sisters, Donna and Doreen. They keep things running in this family-run business.
Special thanks to Bill Sander for sending me his 1976 Program. It will find its new home at the Handgunner Hall of Fame.
Gun owners have plenty of reasons to be skeptical of politicians who suddenly discover the Second Amendment during election season. We’ve been through this before.
Campaign promises are easy. Following through is where things tend to get complicated.
That makes the second Trump administration worth looking at as a whole rather than judging it by whichever gun story happens to be dominating the news this week. There have been missteps, unresolved issues, and a few decisions that deserve criticism. But taken together, what the administration has done on the Second Amendment since returning to office represents a substantial shift in how the federal government approaches gun rights.
And arguably the biggest change isn’t coming from the White House itself.
It’s coming from the Department of Justice.
DOJ Is Actually Litigating for the Second Amendment
For decades, gun owners became accustomed to seeing the Justice Department on the opposite side of Second Amendment cases.
That’s what makes the creation of a dedicated Second Amendment Section within DOJ’s Civil Rights Division so significant.
The section isn’t merely advisory. DOJ says its mission includes investigating alleged patterns of Second Amendment violations by law enforcement, pursuing litigation, filing statements of interest, intervening in cases, and using amicus briefs to advance a broad interpretation of the right to keep and bear arms.
The federal government isn’t simply declining to defend a particular gun-control law. In several cases, it is actively suing state and local governments over restrictions DOJ believes violate the Second Amendment.
That includes challenges involving Los Angeles County’s handling of concealed carry permits, gun permitting practices in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington, D.C.’s ban on commonly owned semi-automatic rifles, Denver’s so-called “assault weapons” ban, Colorado’s magazine restrictions, California’s handgun roster and GLOCK restrictions, Virginia’s recently enacted semi-automatic rifle ban, and Montgomery County, Maryland’s expansive “sensitive place” restrictions.
The Denver rifle-ban lawsuit and Colorado magazine-ban lawsuit are particularly notable because DOJ isn’t dancing around the central issue. The government is arguing that commonly owned semi-automatic rifles and standard-capacity magazines are constitutionally protected arms.
That’s the kind of position gun-rights organizations have been arguing in court for years.
It Started With Trump’s Second Amendment Executive Order
On February 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled Protecting Second Amendment Rights, directing the Attorney General to review federal regulations, guidance, policies, international agreements, and other government actions that potentially infringed on the right to keep and bear arms.
That review included Biden-era firearms regulations and enforcement policies.
What could easily have become another symbolic executive order instead produced tangible changes throughout DOJ and ATF.
Among them was the end of the Biden administration’s so-called “zero tolerance” policy toward Federal Firearms Licensees.
The Department of Veterans Affairs also stopped reporting veterans to NICS as prohibited persons solely because they required fiduciary assistance managing their benefits.
Then there was the creation of DOJ’s Second Amendment Section itself.
Those aren’t campaign promises. They’re changes in federal policy.
ATF Has Been Moving in a Very Different Direction
ATF hasn’t exactly enjoyed a warm relationship with America’s gun owners.
That makes the agency’s current regulatory direction particularly interesting.
In April, DOJ and ATF announced a package containing 34 final and proposed rulemaking actions following the administration’s review of federal firearms regulations.
Some of the proposals are fairly technical. Others could have meaningful consequences for gun owners and FFLs.
ATF has moved to clarify the definition of an “unlawful user of or addicted to” a controlled substance, revise rules governing certain non-over-the-counter firearm transactions, and reconsider other regulations affecting dealers and gun owners.
Instead of searching for increasingly creative ways to expand existing statutory language, the agency is now publicly describing its regulatory work in terms of reducing unnecessary burdens and aligning regulations with current law and court precedent.
That’s quite a change from where ATF was only a few years ago.
The National Firearms Act remains one of the more complicated pieces of the administration’s Second Amendment record.
Congress eliminated the $200 tax on suppressors and short-barreled rifles, removing one of the NFA’s most recognizable burdens. Registration, however, remained.
That created an obvious legal problem.
If the tax that historically justified the NFA’s registration scheme disappears, what exactly is the constitutional basis for continuing to require registration?
That question is now being fought in court.
The administration has also taken positions suggesting suppressors receive at least some Second Amendment protection, an important development for challenges to state laws that ban them outright.
More recently, the government’s handling of the consolidated Silencer Shop v. ATF and Jensen v. ATF litigation has raised even bigger questions about whether DOJ intends to continue defending portions of the NFA registration regime.
TTAG covered the latest development when DOJ allowed the stay to expire, putting Silencer Shop’s NFA injunction into effect.
As of August 2026, that story is still developing.
What happens next could be one of the most consequential Second Amendment developments of Trump’s second term.
The Government Is Showing Up in Other Gun Cases, Too
DOJ’s direct lawsuits aren’t the entire story.
The federal government has also increasingly appeared as an amicus in major Second Amendment litigation.
That includes challenges involving so-called “assault weapon” and magazine bans, ammunition background checks, handgun rosters, and restrictions on where lawful gun owners may carry firearms.
The administration filed briefs in Wolford v. Lopez, for example, challenging Hawaii’s restrictions on carrying firearms on private property open to the public.
It has also participated in litigation involving California’s ammunition background-check system and Massachusetts’ handgun roster.
That matters because the Solicitor General and Justice Department carry institutional weight that another amicus brief from a gun-rights organization simply doesn’t.
It also creates something that has historically been missing from Second Amendment litigation: an executive branch willing to tell courts that state and local governments have gone too far.
There Are Still Reasons to Be Critical
None of this means gun owners should stop paying attention.
The administration’s record isn’t spotless.
DOJ has continued defending some federal gun laws, including portions of the NFA and the Gun-Free School Zones Act. Some of that is expected; the Justice Department ordinarily defends federal statutes. But gun owners aren’t obligated to pretend those positions suddenly become good policy because they’re being defended by a Republican administration.
There have also been questionable litigation decisions.
The government’s position on the scope of relief available to members of organizations involved in Second Amendment lawsuits created legitimate concerns about associational standing.
DOJ’s handling of Benson was another unforced error, with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office urging the D.C. Court of Appeals to rehear a favorable Second Amendment decision en banc.
Then there are the pardons that haven’t happened.
Gun-rights advocates have repeatedly raised the cases of individuals such as Patrick Adamiak and Matthew Hoover. Trump has demonstrated no reluctance to use his pardon and commutation authority elsewhere, making the lack of action in some firearms cases increasingly difficult for supporters to ignore.
There have also been comments from Trump and administration officials following high-profile shootings that haven’t exactly inspired confidence among gun owners.
Look at the Whole Scorecard
The mistake is judging the administration’s Second Amendment record based on one lawsuit, one comment, one ATF rule, or one disappointing decision.
Look at the entire scorecard.
The administration ordered a government-wide review of federal firearms policy. DOJ created a section of its Civil Rights Division specifically dedicated to enforcing the Second Amendment. The Justice Department is suing governments over rifle bans, magazine restrictions, handgun rosters, carry permit practices, and sensitive-place laws. The federal government is filing briefs supporting gun-rights challenges nationwide. ATF has reversed enforcement policies and begun unwinding or reconsidering regulations. Congress eliminated the NFA tax on suppressors and SBRs.
There are still significant fights ahead, particularly over the remaining NFA registration requirements and the administration’s willingness to challenge other federal gun laws.
There are also legitimate criticisms that shouldn’t be dismissed simply because the overall trajectory is favorable.
Gun owners have spent decades fighting against the institutional power of the federal government. For perhaps the first time in the modern Second Amendment era, at least part of that institutional machinery is being pointed in the opposite direction.
Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow comrades.
On this day, 82 years ago on August 10th 1944, Captain David Auldjo Jamieson of the British Royal Norfolk Regiment won the Victoria Cross. Despite being wounded in the eye and arm, he refused to be evacuated as a casualty as he was the only officer remaining functioning, and with only 100 men held off seven repeated attacks by superior forces against his bridgehead over the River Orne, Normandy, France.
British positions were counterattacked by tanks of the German 12th ϟϟ Panzer Division. D company was at the center of much of the bitter fighting as the Germans tried to dislodge the British from their positions. During the German assault, which lasted over 36 hours, the British destroyed five enemy tanks and an armored car.
In the course of the fighting, Jamieson, who had been badly wounded in the head and arm but had refused evacuation, left his trench to direct fire from a British tank onto the enemy. With most of the company’s officers out of action and with mounting casualties among the men, Jamieson, at 6 ‘5 a somewhat conspicuous figure, effectively took command.
Using radio to bring down artillery fire on the German positions, he walked about in full view of the enemy, reorganizing, rallying and encouraging his company. In what the official reports for his Victoria Cross described as “the seemingly hopeless situation”, Jamieson’s powers of leadership so inspired his men that they managed to repulse each fresh attack.
So great were the mounting casualties on the enemy’s side that, eventually, the Germans were forced to withdraw to regroup further back from the bridgehead. Three months later, Jamieson’s Victoria Cross was announced. The official citation made it clear that it was largely due to his personal actions that the important Ome bridgehead was held.
The son of Sir Archibald Auldjo Jamieson, chairman of Vickers Armstrong, David Jamieson was educated at Eton. With the imminent prospect of war, he abandoned his plans to go up to Cambridge and, in May 1939, aged 18, was granted a Territorial commission, joining the 5th Royal Norfolk Regiment.
He was granted a regular commission in 1941. After the war he stayed in the army and, with promotion to major, served as an instructor at the School of Infantry, Warminster, before being appointed an adviser to the British Military Mission in Egypt. He resigned his commission in 1948 and began what was to be an extremely successful business career.
It is difficult to appreciate the scope of World War 2. We modern folk simply have no frame of reference. It was death, tragedy, and destruction on a scale beyond our imagining.
Sixteen million Americans served. More than 400,000 died. Roughly one in every forty American troops who answered the call never came home. One in forty. That’s what it cost to ensure that our world would be free from Nazi death camps, Japanese genocides, and Aryan supermen.
Table of contents
Hidden Treasures In Words
Thanks to Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Stephen Ambrose, we captured many of those priceless stories before it was too late. Their inspiration drove folks across the country to pin Grandpa down and insist that he tell his stories from the war while he still could. I chased those tales myself at every opportunity. What I discovered was poignant beyond my capacity adequately to describe.
So many of those great old guys were reluctant to revisit that world. However, whenever I saw an old WW2 vet in the clinic I would gently ask. What I got in return for those innocent queries was simply amazing.
One old gentleman ran a local hardware store before he retired. If you saw him in church or walking down the street you wouldn’t give him a passing thought. He looked like everybody’s grandfather—bald and slightly stooped with a shuffling gait. However, back in 1944 this guy was an absolute beast.
The Humanity of Total War
My buddy flew B-17 Flying Fortresses in Europe. He did his twenty-five missions and rotated home. He once mentioned that he had designs on an exceptionally attractive young lady in town before the war. He explained that another boy in his class fancied her, too. The girl chose the other suitor. My buddy then said matter-of-factly, “That other guy became a pilot as well. He flew P-38 Lightnings in the Pacific. He died fighting the Japanese.”
There was no emotion to the statement. It was simply a fact. This kid he went to high school with was blown to pieces in the skies over some forgotten South Pacific island, and he was just gone. That was the world in which he lived.
I once asked this man to tell me about his most memorable mission. He said he was in a low formation over Italy when somebody screwed up. The upper bomb group dropped their ordnance, and one errant five hundred pounder struck his Fort just ahead of the cockpit. The bomb did not explode, but it tore the nose off of his airplane, taking his bombardier and nose gunner with it. These were two of his closest friends in the world, and they died horribly five feet in front of his face. He wrestled with the mangled airplane for two interminable hours before landing it safely back at base. He told me this story as though he was describing the weather. There was no bravado or pride. He was simply relating facts.
Connections of Words
I sat mesmerized with him and a dozen or more others, all of whom came to see me for medical care. In my mind’s eye I tried to visualize the scene—the sounds, the smells, and the fear. In each case I’m sure my efforts were woefully inadequate. Some emotions are so intense they just don’t translate well into words.
World War 2 was the first of humanity’s countless scraps to be thoroughly documented. All involved knew what they were doing would be studied, dissected, and potentially venerated for generations to come. Cameras were bulky and awkward by modern standards, but they were still available.
Personal Connection
My wife’s grandfather fought in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He dropped out of school in ninth grade to feed his family during the Depression, but he was a mechanical savant. He took a nice German camera off of a captured Wehrmacht officer and found undeveloped film in his Battalion S2 Intelligence section. He improvised a darkroom using an Army raincoat and a red lens flashlight and carefully cut the film by hand to fit his liberated camera. He scored a few chemicals and processed his own negatives the same way. After he died we found a shoebox full of little pictures he had taken during the war. They were all intriguing, but he had never been willing to explain the details. Regardless, these images offer some fascinating insights into what his life was really like during those long years of combat in Europe.
There are literally countless images to have come from WW2. Some were arcane or tedious. Others, like the raising of the flag over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, were quite literally iconic. Each one tells a story. This story that follows was particularly compelling.
The Plane
July 22, 1944, was a Friday. 1LT James Knarr and his gunner, SSG Charles Reichley, were up early to preflight their Douglas A-20G-25 Havoc medium bomber. Theirs was one of a dozen Havocs assigned to the 387th Bombardment Squadron of the 312th Bombardment Group. They were slated to attack a sprawling Japanese seaplane station and barge depot on the island of Kokas in the South Pacific. Their aircraft was loaded with 115 kg bombs optimized for attacking small ships in the harbor.
The Douglas A-20 Havoc was not as well-known as were the B-17 Flying Fortresses or B-24 Liberators. It even took a back seat to twin-engine medium bombers like the B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder. However, the A-20 was a potent and effective ground attack platform.
First flown in January of 1939, the A-20 was designed from the outset as an attack plane. It was powered by a pair of 14-cylinder Pratt and Whitney R-2600-7 Twin Cyclone radial engines, each producing 1,700 horsepower. By war’s end some 7,478 airframes had rolled off the lines.
Technical Details
By 1944, the G-model A-20 was being used in the Pacific for low-level attacks against Japanese shipping. Under these conditions the bombardier and his vaunted Norden bomb sight were superfluous. As a result, these Havocs had their noses fared over and the bombardier position replaced with half a dozen Browning .50-caliber machineguns. The typical attack profile involved approaching a target at wavetop level and then skipping bombs into the sides of Japanese ships all the while sleeting the decks with massed machinegun fire. The Havoc was remarkably effective in this role.
Without the bombardier, the typical crew of the Havoc was just the single pilot and a top turret gunner. With the assistance of their crew chief, 1LT Knarr and SSG Reichley made their mount ready for the day’s mission. Everything about the plane was armed, fueled, and in order.
The Mission
The approach to the target was unremarkable. The weather was perfect, and visibility was unrestricted. The limitless blue of the South Seas skies formed a placid backdrop to the unfettered carnage that was soon to come.
CPT Jack Klein was flight lead. 2LT Melvin Kapson was piloting the second ship. 1LT Knarr’s Havoc, tail number 43-9432, was third. The Havocs delivered their bombs just as they had been trained to do, raining death and destruction down on the Japanese barges and crews held at anchor in the harbor. However, by the time the attack planes turned on their egress the Japanese defenders had found their wits. Before they had a chance to close their bomb bay doors, the Japanese antiaircraft guns were clawing up toward them.
The formation was tight by design. Flying close meant concentrating firepower and shock effect. This also got the attacking aircraft in and out quickly, minimizing their exposure to ground fire. However, it still wasn’t fast enough.
Tragedy
One burst of antiaircraft fire connected with 1LT Knarr’s starboard engine. Both big radials were firewalled during the attack. 1LT Knarr was coaxing every bit of power out of the plants and every scrap of speed out of the plane. Suddenly the number 2 engine sputtered and died streaming oil. The big 11-foot, 3-inch propeller briefly windmilled.
In such close quarters and at such low altitude, there was just no time. 1LT Knarr was unable to get the prop feathered before the big plane began to roll. The ten-ton medium bomber snapped to the right, its wingtip contacting the smooth azure waters of the bay. In a literal instant, what had previously been a state-of-the-art attack plane manned by a pair of American aircrewmen was transformed into 20,000 pounds of debris. And just like that, 1LT Knarr and SSG Reichley were dead, literally pulverized in the impact.
Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words
CPT Klein had been taking photos of the mission. His camera was remarkably advanced for the time and was capable of sequential frames. As luck would have it, his images captured the final seconds of 1LT Knarr’s airplane. The sequence became one of the most compelling of the war.
52,173 Americans died in aerial combat in WW2. Many fighter pilots like my friend’s high school classmate perished alone in the rarefied upper atmosphere. Others died as part of a crew with their friends by their sides to the last. The vast majority perished in anonymity, their sacrifice memorialized by nothing more than a heartfelt letter to loved ones from heartbroken friends or overwrought commanders. However, 1LT Knarr and SSG Reichley had their final moments immortalized. Even some eight decades later, those haunting images move me to my core.