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Old 07-16-2017, 01:10 PM
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Jacknola Jacknola is offline
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The rest of the story....



Gentlemen and Ladies... I am both delighted and saddened to tell the rest of the story of General Hal Moore's DSC pictured Randall knife. I received an E-mail from Lt Col. Steve Moore (ret), who discussed the subject with his brother Col. Dave Moore (ret). Here is his message:

"Jack ? my brother is here to fish with me for a few days and he told me that Dad treasured the pictured knife. It was given to him by GEN Westmoreland and was stolen out of the shipment when the family moved from Korea to Fort Ord, CA.

"My brother moved to Auburn after he retired from the Army to make sure Dad was taken care of and spent far more time with him than the rest of us. Many times when Dad would see the picture with the DSC (people would send it for his autograph), he would express his sadness at the loss of the knife."


Despite me being a graduate of the U. of Alabama (that is a gentle dig at the Auburn connection for those of you not fortunate to have loved and lived in the great State of Alabama), I have found this to be an amazing story; the search for a famous Randall. And then the surfacing of another rare and historically important one, his father-in-law, Col. Compton's knife. Unfortunately it appears that Gen Moore's DSC Randall will never be photo'd. But it is nice to know what happened and some of its history. And there is important information that can be deduced from this story:

(1) The knife was probably stolen in 1970-71 when Gen. Moore was reassigned from command of the 7th ID in Korea to the US..

(2) When did General Westmoreland present Moore with the knife? Well, the knife is either late '40s, or mid '50s (based on spacers). There could be many opportunities during their often overlapping careers for Westmoreland to present the knife to Moore. But given the RMK spacers, logically there are two main possibilities to consider...especially as such a presentation of a combat knife would likely be associated with personal field activities rather than say ... West Point teaching assignments.

- One prime possibility is that Westmoreland presented it to him 1952-53 during the Korea War, when Westmoreland commanded the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team and when Capt. Moore was in combat as a company commander. Problem with this is that during the Korean War, Moore was in the 7th ID and Westmoreland was 187th.

- So... it is more likely that Westmoreland gave the knife to Moore sometime during 1949-50 when Westmoreland was chief of staff of the 82nd Airborne and Moore was an up-and-coming young officer in the 82nd experimental airborne test detachment. My money is on late 1940s ... which would be consistent with the spacers.. and that makes the loss of the that knife a special loss for all RMK historical collectors.

(3) Second deduction that flows logically from the above is that Westmoreland had an appreciation of RMKs that long preceded acquisition of his famous ivory handled model 1(5)-6 in. he carried in Vietnam (see photo below). I have postulated and posted documentation that RMKs were the knife of choice in the Airborne units especially in officer ranks, because of the esteem held for General "jumpin" Jim Gavin - the original Airborne officer RMK owner (see photos below). Examples of early RMK acquisition are widespread among officers in the WWII Airborne that later rose to high rank... including later Generals Westmoreland and Singlaub.

The importance of an RMK among the airborne forces of WWII-Korea carried over to the foundation of the Special Forces in 1952 when the initial units were formed mostly from veteran airborne and ranger solders (I have documentation about the men who were assigned to the original SF unit, but it is a long story and not particularly germane to RMks). This is probably why RMKs became the one of the required original status symbols of SF (along with Rolex watch) that was continued as a legacy into the Vietnam war era...which is why my brother and I, both Special Forces, bought Randalls in 1965-66 and carried them in Vietnam, which is why I am typing this today.

(4) General Westmoreland's original Randall was probably also damaged, stolen or lost which caused him to place an emergency order to RMK for a replacement in 1963-4, which was filled by that famous ivory handle knife. And this raises a possibility that Westmoreland gave his own original personal Randall knife to a young Hal Moore in 1949 and that Moore carried that knife faithfully until it was stolen ... and would be consistent with his sense of loss (speculation alert-I still regret losing my stolen RMK from Vietnam that was not specially presented to me).

(5) Next project... see if I can photo General Singlaub's Randall that he acquired in WWII and carried throughout his career, and interview him about it.

I hope all have enjoyed the unfolding of this story, and my heartfelt appreciation goes to LTC Steve Moore who graciously accommodated my questions and who continued to follow up until the story was complete.

For reference, below are pictures of Gen. James Gavin with his Randall gearing up for the Market (Garden) Jump.. and another picture of Gen. Westmoreland in Vietnam with his Randall... and some pictures of that knife in the museum, courtesy of research by Wally Mabry.






Last edited by Jacknola; 07-18-2017 at 09:10 AM.
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