The US Marine who fought with a GUN made from 3 GUNS!

Tony Stein the US Marine who fought with a gun made from three guns World War two Tony Stein a young Jewish toolmaker from Dayton Ohio was just about to turn 21 when he decided to join the US Marine Corps on September 22nd 1942 he wasn't much for school but he was always hard working ticking on part-time jobs in the evening at the local bowling alley and that weekend's golf caddying at the nearby Country Club those around him said he showed a natural ability for leadership from an early age he also had a reputation for being fearless taking up amateur boxing on successfully winning the coveted Dayton Golden Glove championship in February 1942 he even made it into the neighborhood newspaper when he showed considerable bravery by saving a young boy from drowning in the nearby mad river so it came as no surprise that when Stein was just about to turn 21 in September of 1942 that he decided to give up his job as an apprentice toolmaker and do his patriotic duty by joining the United States Marine Corps he had in fact wanted to enlist earlier but his job as a tool and die maker was necessary for the war effort however his occupation was dropped from the exemption list in September and Stein promptly enlisted once he had passed basic training he volunteered to be assigned to the US Marines new specialized combat unit the marine paratroopers nicknamed the power Marines this units task was to carry out airborne assaults by being parachuted directly into the combat zone Stein was then sent with the third parachute battalion 1st parachute regiment 3rd Marine Division to the Pacific Theater where he fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in October 1943 he saw combat in the land battle of Villa lavalla in the Solomon Islands later he was involved in the Bougainville campaign in the northern Sullivans there he earned himself the reputation as a sniper exterminator being credited with killing five enemy snipers including just one feet away from his company commander Stein returned to the United States during the summer of 1944 married his girlfriend Joan stalling her and took leave to return home to Dayton but later in that same year it was decided to disband the paramarines due to a shortage of transport planes and a change of tactics by the US Marines Stein was then promoted to the rank of Corporal and reassigned to Company A of the 1st battalion 28th Marines whose motto was uncommon valor shortly afterwards in 1945 he would take part in the bloody amphibious landing at Iwo Jima he was one of only a handful of Marines to be issued with the new experimental modified stinger machine gun the stinger as the war intensified in the Pacific and American troops started to go on the offensive it became apparent that the Marines lacked fire support whenever they rapidly advanced deep into enemy-held territory especially in the jungle environment therefore it was concluded that there was an urgent need for a machine gun that could keep up with the pace of the Marines as they landed on the beaches and rapidly press forward against enemy fortifications they required something that was highly portable and could easily lay down heavy and devastating gunfire instantly when required at short notice for this US Marines on the front line at the time used the m1919 browning a 30 caliber medium machine gun for this role the m1919 was rugged reliable and highly effective but required at least a crew of two men one being the gunner who carried the tripod and some ammunition and an assistant gunner who carried the actual gun itself along with a box of spare parts and tools the machine gun itself was heavy weighing in the region of 31 pounds and took a considerable amount of time to set up as it was tripod mounted therefore it was much better suited to a defensive role to overcome this problem Marines also use the VAR light machine gun which was much lighter and with its bipod allowed just one man to carry and use it it was even agile enough that it could be fired by the user when stood up the var had been very advanced for its time in World War 1 but 25 years later it was woefully inadequate as a squads an automatic weapon for its rate of fire was very slow and with a magazine capacity of just 20 rounds it could run out of ammo after just a few seconds of sustained firing so while the US military debated what to do about this shortfall in their weapons arsenal Marines on the front line decided to tackle the problem themselves and create their own weapon by modifying whatever they could lay their hands on from the battlefield as a basis of these improvised weapons it was decided to use the a n m2 machine gun this was used by tail Gunners on a wide number of US planes including the Devastator torpedo bomber the Dauntless dive bomber and the Avenger torpedo fighter bomber the reason for this was that the a n m2 was 1/3 lighter than the standard m1919 fire support medium machine gun and it also had twice the firepower and as it was in mass production at the time spare parts were in plentiful supply so during 1943 some a and m2 s were salvaged from the wings of crash u.s. naval planes and were modified for field testing by adding machine gun Spade grips and modifying their tail gunner mounts into a type of tripod they became known as stingers and these improvised weapons proved moderately successful but were still awkward to deploy then during the Bougainville Island campaign in the territory of New Guinea that started in November 1943 a marine private called William H Colby simply adapted his stinger by getting rid of its clumsy mount and replacing it with a b AR bipod this proved highly effective and on November 25th Colby and his stinger were credited with driving off a Japanese attack when his platoon was ambushed but there was still an issue with the stinger it could not be fired either stood up or on the move due to the use of the Spade grips so two Marines lieutenant gray and Sergeant Greenwich encouraged by their commanding officers developed an improved stinger from cannibalized weapon parts they used parts from three different weapons they still use the ANM two medium machine gun as the basis for the stinger but added an m1 garand wooden butt and a new specially designed trigger to make firing the weapon that much easier as well as incorporating private Colby's idea of using the VAR bipod though they didn't stop there further improvements included adding a 100 round box magazine that held a Link belt of ammunition and incorporating the BA ARS rear gun sights for improved as a nice finishing touch they painted them all a camouflaged color the resulting weapon was just over 40 inches long and weighed six pounds less than the m-19 19 media machine gun this made the weapon much more portable and was able to be carried and used by just one man the only drawback found what these guns was that they could easily overheat due to their exceptionally high rate of fire of up to 1350 rounds per minute originally this wasn't a problem as these air-cooled machine guns were naturally cooled by the 300 mile an hour slipstream that was created when the aircraft they were mounted on were in flight but this problem of overheating when used by the Marines on the ground was made manageable once they were taught to fire the Stinger in short bursts just six of these improved versions of the Stinger were built they were subsequently issued to a handful of Marines and saw service in 1945 at the amphibious assault at Iwo Jima corporal Stein of the 28th Marines was one of these Marines to be issued with the new improved stinger machine gun Stein was to use his to great effect during his short time on the island the improved stingers though crude looking were highly effective and there was serious consideration given to put this design into large-scale production but then the war ended and the plan was permanently shelved no example of a stinger machine gun is known to exist today Iwo Jima 1945 Stein in his unit landed on the beaches of Iwo Jima in February 19th 1945 he came ashore at oh nine twelve hours at Green Beach in the fourth wave his platoon disembarked in the shadow of Mount Suribachi the extinct volcano the entire beach and island beyond had loose coarse volcanic ash which was easy to sink into when Stein disembarked from the landing craft he lost his helmet when his unit became pinned down on the beach during the first day of the assault Stein without regard for his own safety used his stinger machine gun to attack realize several enemy pillboxes in the process he is credited with killing at least 20 Japanese infantrymen he then continued to engage the enemy for the next few hours but as his stinger machine gun with a rate of fire of thirteen hundred and fifty rounds per minute was hungry for ammo he had to return to the beachhead no less than eight times for more ammunition after being supplied with ammunition Stein would continue to press the assault even as he had his stinger shot directly out of his hands twice by enemy fire each time he returned the Stein would either carry or assist a wounded fellow soldier back with him he even took off his boots so he could go back and forth faster and as the battle for the island intensified one enemy pillbox to held out so Stein helped direct fire from a nearby 75 millimeter arm and a three half track leading to the pillbox being destroyed later that day Stein would perform a rearguard action covering his units withdrawal for his bravery in this skirmish Stein was awarded America's highest military award the Medal of Honor his Medal of Honor citation refers to the Stinger used by Stein's simply as a personally improvised aircraft type weapon a few days later Stein was injured in the shoulder from a mortar fragment during the fierce fighting at the foot of the extinct volcano Mount Suribachi and was evacuated to a nearby hospital ship therefore he missed out on his regiments famous and iconic raising of the flag on the peak of the mountain at the end of the battle for his injuries he was to receive a Purple Heart Medal after a short rest aboard the ship he volunteered to rejoin his unit on the front line as he heard that his regiment was taking heavy casualties he rejoined his unit on March 1st 1945 on the same day when Stein was leading 19 men on a rescue mission he was shot dead by a Japanese sniper he was one of around 7,000 US military personnel to lose their lives during the month-long battle for this highly strategic important island just after the war had ended his Medal of Honor was formally accepted posthumously by his widow they had been married for less than a year and later in 1972 a u.s. Navy Knox class frigate was named the USS Stein in his honor you

Channel: Simple History

Views: 4,798,949

Keywords: education, simple history, animated history, educational, Tony stein, stinger, weird, modified, Uncommon Valor, us marines, Dayton, Ohio, patriotic, Paramarines, airborne, Japanese, pacific, Bougainville Island, Solomon Islands, amphibious, Iwo Jima, American, jungle, M1919 Browning, BAR, ANM2, Dauntless Dive, Avenger, engineer, Lieutenant Grey, Sergeant Grevich, William H. Colby, idea, Suribachi, volcano, Purple Heart, Medal of Honour

Id: UDhI3WWAPXY

Length: 11min 21sec (681 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 31 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Cyberchaotic]

shoulda posted gun jesus: https://youtu.be/YgecTgbz3ik

[u/snatfaks]

The stinger would be a cool addition. There can never be enough beltfeds.

[u/sled_running]

I actually hope H3 gets to the point where we can make our own frankenguns. Some of the builds people have made with the Whizbanger alone are just amazing.

[u/midway__]

This would be so much fun. Along with being a neat piece of history.

[u/reelstank]

USMC Stinger?

[u/icantfindagoodname77]

honestly one of the best looking frankenguns

[u/AJ-or-something]

Stinger good, simple history bad. Forotten wespons video on stinger very good.

[u/lordhulk2004]

Specifically the gun made from 3 guns

[u/Jeeperdy]

Since you guys complain about the MG42 not having enough ammo, this is a good compromise