Townsend Whelen loved the outdoors and lived guns.
An avid outdoorsman, marksman, hunter, soldier, and author, Whelen wrote for numerous sporting magazines and penned several books on topics ranging from gunsmithing to rifle scopes to big game hunting, shooting, and weapon cleaning. A career U.S. Army officer, he served as the commander of the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia before retiring as a full colonel after 34 years of active duty. He was 84 when he died in 1961.
These are Townsend Whelen’s thoughts on whether or not to hire an outfitter for a hunting expedition that would provide cooks, guides, necessary equipment, and sleeping accommodations:
“The western dude, or the eastern sport, who starts under these present comparatively luxurious conditions does not long remain a tenderfoot,” Townsend Whelen wrote in `On Your Own in the Wilderness,’ published in 1958. “Either he quits the game when he has a few heads to hang on his wall, or he becomes a real hunter, fisherman, and woodsman in his own right.
“If you have red blood in your veins, a love for the beautiful, and a deep-down yearning for freedom and peace, you soon learn to do things for yourself,” Whelen wrote. “You take a more and more justifiable pride in your increasing competence. Perhaps you start out hardly able to step over a picket rope and end by hurdling the mountains.”
An Experimental Springfield 1901 Carbine
An experimental U.S. Springfield Model 1901 bolt action carbine inscribed to Townsend Whelen when he was a lieutenant in the Army will be on auction at Rock Island Auction Company’s Feb. 16-18 Sporting and Collector Firearms Auction. It’s serial number 11. The rifle gauge is .30-03, not the .30-06 he recommended in `On Your Own in the Wilderness’ and throughout his life.
The experimental 1901 wasn’t adopted by the U.S. Army but served as a precursor to the M1903 that proved to be a mainstay for doughboys and GIs through two world wars. In limited production, more tests were done to the 1901, leading to several changes. The rear gunsight was moved back and the barrel was shortened from 30 to 24 inches as it evolved toward the M1903.
The .25 Whelen, .35 Whelen, .375 Whelen, and .400 Whelen cartridges bear his name from when he commanded the Frankford Arsenal.
Townsend Whelen: Tentmaker
He designed a lean-to tent he called, appropriately, the `hunter’s lean-to tent’ in 1925 and David Abercrombie, of Abercrombie & Fitch, manufactured and marketed it as a `Whelen lean-to.” Various versions can still be found for order on the Internet.
Born of blue blood in Philadelphia in 1877, as a child, Townsend Whelen was gawky and withdrawn, seemingly not cut out for the life of the military nor outdoor adventure. The gift of a Remington rolling block .22 at age 13 changed that. He taught himself to shoot and by 15 he was winning rifle matches.
At 18, Whelen began exercising seriously and gained 30 lbs. of muscle, and joined the Pennsylvania National Guard as a private. Three years later, his unit was called up for the Spanish-American War but didn’t see action. He quickly rose to sergeant, then to lieutenant. As he was promoted, he saw his future as a career military officer and applied for a commission.
Townsend Whelen in British Columbia and Panama
Officer testing wouldn’t be for a year, so Townsend Whelen resigned from his reserve unit, quit his job, and headed for the wilderness of British Columbia, taking little more than the essentials with him. Among the items was a tarp to create his lean-to tent. He spent several months roaming the wilds and hunting game before returning to Philadelphia and the officer exam.
Among Whelen’s assignments as a regular Army officer was the garrison force to protect the Panama Canal as it neared completion. The area his unit was assigned was thick jungle that Whelen traipsed into on weekends. He explored carrying little more than his rifle and what could fit in a rucksack. With his experiences, he trained his men on jungle survival and set the standard for the U.S. Army.
Townsend Whelen: Top Marksman
Whelen, known as Mister Rifleman, was a superior marksman and served on several Army teams competing against the other branches. He wrote `Suggestions to Military Riflemen” in 1909 and is listed as the winner of the Army Competitions in 1903, Coach of the U.S. Army Infantry Team in 1905, and as a member of the U.S. Infantry National Team in 1903, 1906, and 1907.
As the United States entered World War I, Townsend Whelen found himself assigned to the Army General Staff, inspecting camps and creating training regimens.
Whelen found an interest in ordnance after the war, commanding the Frankford Arsenal and serving as director of research and development at the Springfield Armory, working with highly-trained gunsmiths and learning from them.
In his books, Townsend Whelen writes about the proper ammunition and rifle for hunting, to achieve humane kills and preserve pelts. He long promoted the Springfield .30-06 and the .22 long rifle. In the `American Rifleman,’ he wrote: “The .30-06 is never a mistake.”
Whelen explored Canada, the Rocky Mountains, and the Adirondacks, and bagged 110 head of big game during his career. He was a regular contributor for Field & Stream, Sports Afield, Outdoor Life, The American Rifleman, and Guns & Ammo, according to an article about him in Field & Stream.
Townsend Whelen: Advice for Riflemen
In his voluminous writing, Townsend Whelen offered mountains of advice. Here are just a few nuggets:
First and foremost, clean your firearm. “A firearm is a piece of fine machinery. Like any other machine, if it be treated with the proper care at the proper time it will last a lifetime and always give satisfaction. Fail to give it this care, and it will soon deteriorate.
“In some respects, the care of a firearm is more complicated and difficult than the care of other machinery. It is often exposed outdoors to very severe weather. The firing of the cartridge introduces into the bore a fouling which will most certainly cause rust and deterioration unless it is quickly and completely removed.”
Use the sling. “The advantages of using the gun-sling are: absolute steadiness in the prone position; distribution of the recoil to the entire body; quickening return of the rifle to the target in magazine fire; preventing the rifle recoiling off the target; and minimizing the effect of the wind, fatigue, and breathlessness on holding.”
Fitness is important in shooting. “A strong, muscular man will always have an advantage over a weak man in military shooting. The weak man may be able to shoot a score or two as well as his stronger brother, but the latter can hold so hard that the recoil is scarcely felt, while the former will be so kicked around that as the shooting progresses his work will fall off.
In competitions like those in the regular Army, where the competitor has to compete at his post for top score and then go through two severe competitions of six days’ duration each, strength becomes an enormous factor. So, too, in a strong wind the powerful man can hold his rifle more firmly against the wind than the weaker one.”
Keep a record. “The score-book is not, as its name implies, a record of the score made in points. It is intended as an exact record of the rifle, ammunition, and man under the exact weather conditions existing at the instant the shot is fired, with also a record of these weather conditions. Any score-book which does not contain all this data is useless from the expert’s point of view.”
Your eyes are important. “It well behooves even those with good strong eyes to take extra care of them during the target season. The eyes should never be used any more than is absolutely necessary, and then never for long-continued intervals.”
Clean from the breech, not from the bore. “The only safe way of cleaning is from the breech with a long cleaning-rod. The muzzle cannot be guarded too carefully.”
Aim for the ‘boiler room’ to make humane kills. “The chest, containing the heart and lungs, presents the largest mark. A modern bullet at modern velocity penetrating into this boiler room disrupts so much tissue, and so fills the cavity with blood that the animal either succumbs on the spot or drops after a wild race of perhaps twenty-five to a hundred yards, as soon as the supply of blood to the brain ceases.
“This critical area is not a difficult target. Any hunter who cannot be fairly sure of striking it with the majority of his shots has no moral right to hunt with the rifle, for he will cause too much suffering.”
Townsend Whelen: A Hunter’s Hunter
The wilderness called to Townsend Whelen and he answered it countless times. He hunted big game and lived off the land. As a soldier, he put his wilderness knowledge to use. As a writer he shared that knowledge.
In the Feb. 16-18 Sporting and Collector Firearms Auction, a seldom seen U.S. Springfield Model 1901 bolt action carbine, inscribed to then-lieutenant Whelen will be on offer. More than just a rare long gun, this Model 1901 is a piece of outdoor writing history and honors a man who lived life to the fullest.
Sources:
`On Your Own in the Wilderness,’ by Townsend Whelen and Bradford Angier
`Suggestions to Military Riflemen,’ by Townsend Whelen
`Rifles and Cartridges,’ by Wayne Van Zwoll, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Historicalfirearms.info
`Great American Hunters: Townsend Whelen,’ by David E. Petzal, Field and Stream
`Colonel Townsend Whelen – American Rifleman and Soldier – Part 1,” frontierpartisans.com
In what seems a familiar refrain, Shawn Timothy Nelson never was quite right. Born on 21 August 1959, Shawn was the second of Fred and Betty Nelson’s three boys. He attended James Madison High School in San Diego.
In 1978, Shawn enlisted in the US Army. After his training was complete, he was posted to Germany as an armor crewman. Two years later he separated from the military with an honorable discharge for “multifaceted disciplinary problems.”
The vast majority of the junior soldiers with whom I served were solid, hard-charging young studs. They were drawn to military service out of a desire to give back, a lust for adventure, or a need to earn money for college. However, a few of them just weren’t wired correctly. Shawn Nelson seems to have fallen into that category.
Once he left the military, Shawn trained to become a plumber. After he married Suzy Hellman in 1984, Shawn started his own plumbing business. By all accounts he was fairly successful. At some point everybody needs a plumber.
An Interesting Piece of Humanity
Shawn knew how to exercise the US legal system. He got into a fight with a hospital security guard in 1990 and subsequently sued the hospital. His mom died at the same hospital the following year, and he sued them again for that. In 1993 all of his cumulative legal assaults were consolidated and promptly dismissed. This experience left him bitter and angry.
Shawn and his wife actually lived in Clairemont, California, a subordinate community within San Diego proper. His weird behavior earned him no small amount of local notoriety. Nelson frequently cut his grass in the middle of the night, and he eventually excavated a twenty-foot hole in his backyard searching for gold. By all accounts his efforts bore no fruit. His property was cluttered with mechanical detritus and refuse.
The cops responded to his home nine times in 1994-1995. These calls ranged from allegations of domestic violence to a claim that his work van had been stolen. Throughout it all, his neighbors knew of him but no one actually knew him.
Shawn Nelson also struggled with addiction. He mixed alcohol and methamphetamines regularly, causing his behavior to become more and more erratic. In 1991 Suzy moved out.
In June of 1994, someone stole Nelson’s van with all his plumbing tools. Now deprived of the means to do his job, his business cratered. Along the way, he had a motorcycle accident and suffered a painful spinal injury. By 1995 he was unemployed.
Now unable to pay his bills, the bank foreclosed on his house and the utility companies cut him off. He was finally served with an eviction notice. By this time he had found a new girlfriend, but she saw the writing on the wall and left as well. Nelson began alluding to suicide. The man was clearly at the end of his rope.
I’ve been down on my luck before–most all of us have–though I cannot say I have ever sunk quite as low as Shawn Nelson did. Of course, I never dug a twenty-foot hole in my backyard looking for gold, either. In response to such sordid circumstances, some turn to God, while others might seek out government assistance. By contrast, Shawn Timothy Nelson just went insane.
The Army National Guard
The Army National Guard answers to the Governors of the individual states. In times of crisis, these citizen soldiers can be activated to deal with civil unrest or national disasters. Upon the orders of the President, they can be federalized for national service as well. The National Guard makes up 14.8% of America’s total military force.
Back when I was young and dinosaurs roamed the plains, the National Guard was legit one weekend a month and two weeks each summer. It was a great way to make money for college without much risk of deploying someplace to get shot. Not so anymore. After 9/11 we got our money’s worth out of those guys. A good friend with whom I was commissioned commanded in combat at the company, battalion, and brigade levels as a National Guard officer. As you might imagine, he has an exceptionally long-suffering wife.
The National Guard typically trains on the same gear to the same technical standards as their active duty counterparts. Sometimes that works out better than other times, but Guard guys can indeed do some pretty high-speed stuff. In many cases, local National Guard armories will maintain small numbers of combat vehicles onsite for training purposes. I also suppose they could roll out the local Bradley or M1 Abrams in response to civil unrest or something similarly horrible, though I have never heard of that actually happening.
In my home state of Mississippi, our National Guard includes Armor, Artillery, Aviation, Engineers, Maintenance, Quartermaster, JAG, and Special Forces units. We even have an Army band. That’s a whole lot of heavily armed rednecks. Don’t screw with us. I’m not kidding.
The Crime Involved a Tank
Shawn Nelson’s local National Guard armory housed an armor unit. Contained therein were several M60A3 Main Battle Tanks. The local motor pool was surrounded by an eight-foot chain-link fence topped with triple-strand barbed wire. Permanent party personnel typically went home around 1800 hours. They diligently locked the gate behind them as they left.
17 May 1995 was a Wednesday, and the Guard guys were working late for some reason. At 1830 Shawn Nelson drove his derelict van through the open gate and parked near the tanks. Shirtless and ill-kempt, he broke the locks securing three different tanks before he got one to start. By 1845, however, it was game on.
Nelson was an experienced tank driver. He crashed the gate with the turret traversed backward and the gun secured in the travel lock. For the next 25 minutes, he wreaked utter chaos in and around San Diego.
One resident later stated, “He didn’t go down the center of the street…It seems he just wanted to get the utilities and cause as much damage (as possible) without hurting people.”
Over the course of some six miles, he took out traffic lights, power poles, fire hydrants, and bus stops. In so doing he cut power to 5,100 households. Along the way, he also crushed forty vehicles including at least one motor home. Throughout it all, miraculously, no one was injured.
The Weapon Was a Tank
The M60A3 Patton was 31 feet long and could reach speeds of 45 miles per hour. The tank was powered by a Continental AVDS-1790-2 V12 air-cooled, twin-turbo diesel engine. It was armed with a superb 105mm M68 main gun along with a 7.62x51mm M73 coaxial gun and an M85 .50-caliber machine gun in the commander’s cupola, both of which kind of sucked. More than 15,000 of these vehicles were produced.
Like all military weapon systems, the machine evolved over time. The M60A1 was equipped with an M17A1 optical rangefinder that used a pair of lenses set on the sides of the turret to accurately determine range. This binocular periscope device rode in the two bug-eyed knobs on the exterior of the turret. With these two lenses focused on a target it became a simple mechanical exercise in geometry to determine the range. The later M60A3 included a laser rangefinder. I worked alongside M60 tanks early in my military career and found them to be more than adequately intimidating.
Nothing Lasts Forever
The authorities were in a bit of a quandary. Though bereft of ammunition, this was still a 114,000-pound armored vehicle. The cops didn’t have anything that would touch it. The Governor supposedly considered requesting armed tank or attack helicopter support. In the end, Shawn Nelson took care of the problem himself.
In his enthusiasm to crush pretty much everything in sight, Nelson ran his pilfered tank up onto a concrete traffic barrier, wedging it in place. While trying to extricate himself he threw a track. Now the tank was immobilized.
The tank was in combat lockdown with the sundry hatches secured. Four extraordinarily brave San Diego PD officers mounted the thrashing vehicle and managed to get the commander’s hatch open using bolt cutters. Throughout it all Nelson tried to throw the officers clear by violently working the remaining track.
The cops had no idea whether or not Nelson was armed. Once they finally got the hatch opened they shot him in the right shoulder. He died on site. The coroner later reported that he had been intoxicated at the time. Here’s a video of the final moments.
The Aftermath for Shawn Nelson
This was still freaking California, so naturally folks took issue with the way the cops ended Nelson’s rampage. Only in the Land of Fruits and Nuts would four cops be brave enough to leap onto a rampaging tank and then have citizens complain that they did it wrong. The lawyers naturally got involved, and the State of California was forced to pay out $149,201 (about $273,000 today) to cover damages. Wow.
The following day all 28 tanks in Southern California Guard armories had their batteries removed for safekeeping. Those suckers are heavy. I suspect that was a fairly unpopular play among the tankers tasked with carrying out this edict.
Because it was still California, all California National Guard tanks were eventually moved to Fort Irwin and Camp Roberts for safekeeping. I’m honestly surprised they didn’t just pass some fresh new tank control laws to guarantee that the Shawn Nelsons of the world could no longer steal tanks. Freaking California…
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