It stands to reason that a guy going into the military in WWII could have used one of these knives during the war.
One did, it is documented on pages 138-139 in Hunt's "
Randall Military Models", but to make a blanket statement that there was some sudden flurry of purchases by the newly formed UDT in its infancy is a dream at best. Even the inference this took place is disingenuous without any evidence to support it.
Most of the maybe ten or so I have seen were found in atackle box or kitchen drawer. They were not very popular being limited in their use and the expense. That was a pricey bottle opener back in the day!
You might want to read a bit further on page 138 about the original owner of John Cheek's knife.
For those of you who do not have access to Bob Hunt's book, here are the facts.
"Long before introducing the Model 16, Mr. Randall had designed a true saltwater diving knife, one of which is photographed here. The knife is interesting, but so was the man who used it. A pioneer in spear fishing and skin-diving in general, Hal Messinger was an underwater angler of some reputation before entering the US Navy during WWII."
"Subsequently he was elevated to a new position that put him in command of ALL combined forces of Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT). The organization was created through the influence of both the President of the United States and the British Prime Minister and Messinger's appointment was made on the recommendation of the OSS."
"As a Naval officer, he organized, trained and developed the UDT's, which led to their successful operations in clearing enemy waters on invasion shores. During his service, Captain Messinger developed procedures used to pick up SEAL teams from a moving boat"
"Hal Messinger carried the knife depicted during the war, but any reference to how and where it was used has been lost in time. Its unique design is devised from forging a 3/4-inch bar that was hammered and then ground to shape out of one solid bar of stainless steel. The result was a rustproof knife that held an edge and was ideally suited to the type of work IT WAS DESIGNED FOR."
To make the assumption that Capt. Messinger was the only member of all of these units combined that carried one of these knives, especially since he was in charge of training each and every last one of them, and that he would not recommend the use of one similar..... well that would be just asinine. I do not value anybody's snide comments or "mightier than thou" attitude, especially when it involves MY knives. I call it what I want because it is the only logical reason for it's existence.
If somebody would like to authenticate MY knife, send me $150.00 and I will allow them to look at it.
Previous Topic
Index
