Sunday, December 27, 2020

AMONG THE MANY THINGS I DID NOT KNOW

by Bob Walsh

I was reading my new (01-21) issue of The Rifleman and came across an article about the last American shot fired during WW II.  It was fired from a B-32 bomber.  I did not know the B-32 was ever deployed for combat duty during WW II.  There were only slightly more than 100 ever made and production stopped at the end of WW II.  

It seems that two of them went up on a photo recon mission and were attacked by 17 Japanese fighters.  The last American shots were fired by a Browning .50 caliber machine gun, which is hardly a surprise under the circumstances.  The action also resulted in the last combat death of an American serviceman during that war, a poor fellow named Anthony J. Marchiano, a 20-year old Sergeant.

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