Man Gives Father Best Birthday Present Ever

Story, Flint Journal.

This story is too heartwarming for me to excerpt it, fair use be damned. I want to be able to read this again sometime in the future without paying for the privilege:

DAVISON TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- Jim Richardson was aware of the odds when he made up his mind on a birthday gift for his father, Virgil Richardson of Davison Township.

The 54-year old Frankenmuth man wanted to track down the M1 Garand .30-caliber rifle his father carried more than 50 years ago as a soldier in the Korean War and present it to him on his 79th birthday next month.

But millions of the rifles were produced during that period -- 7 million to be exact. So you just can't avoid the pun: Finding his dad's weapon was a long shot.

"It'd be like hitting the lottery," said Matt Webb, a local gun expert at Williams Gun Sight & Outfitters in Davison Township.

"I've heard stories about people who used those guns during the war and wanted to get another one, but someone finding the exact serial number, it's just extraordinary -- just phenomenal."

As unbelievable as it is, that's exactly what Jim Richardson did, and he offered the gift to his father last week, almost a month early.

For Virgil Richardson, 78, the shock hasn't quite faded.

"I couldn't even talk when he gave it to me," he said. "It didn't even have to be the same gun to be important to me."

Virgil Richardson admits he didn't believe it was the same gun at first.

The Winchester-manufactured Garand now tucked away in the den of his home is the same weapon he carried while still in his early 20s, a world away from home, marching through areas such as the Punchbowl, a nickname for a region of the Korean mountains, and The Iron Triangle, a battlefield area that served as the headquarters for the North Korean Army.

It's rare for the General Motors retiree to even discuss his time as a U.S. Army radio operator in the 25th Infantry Division, in which he served from 1951-53.

"I had issues I couldn't resolve in my mind, and I finally realized I hadn't allowed God to take care of the problem," he said.

But when Virgil Richardson does speak of the war, he often mentions the rifle and its accuracy and dependability, as well as his own marksmanship.

So it's not surprising that during a family gathering at his daughter's home near Goodrich last month, when the conversation turned to hunting, the subject of the rifle emerged.

But this time, it was an offhand remark about the serial number on the rifle that stuck with his son, Jim Richardson.

"My sister lives in the country, and it came up that you could shoot a deer right from the deck of her home," the younger Richardson said. "Dad made a comment that (during his Army years) he could hit a silhouette target at 500 yards without a scope. Most people can't see that far without a scope.

"I told him my son (Jonathan) and I had been looking for one of those rifles," Jim Richardson continued. "He jokingly said, 'If you ever find one with the serial number 16-22-26-1, I'll give you a $1,000.'"

With a little research, they found that his dad's rifle was one of a small number manufactured by Winchester.

Soon after that August conversation, Jim Richardson was on a business trip when he found himself with a little extra time during an airport layover, so he began searching online for the rifle.

He found a Kentucky gun broker who was in possession of one that fit the description of his father's, with what looked to be an almost identical serial number.

He called the dealer and told him the story and asked for the last two numbers.

Bull's-eye.

"He (the gun broker) didn't believe it," Jim Richardson said. "After the war, the soldiers couldn't bring the rifles back with them. They stayed in Korea (until the 1980s), when they were able to be imported back to the United States."

The rifle was shipped to a Saginaw gun shop, where Jim Richardson was able to pick it up.

He won't say exactly how much it cost, but the early birthday gift is priceless to the Richardson family.

Some collectors of that type of rifle have paid as much as $3,000.

"That particular rifle has such historical interest," explained Webb, who is also a collector of the M1 Garand rifle. "It was used in World War II, the Korean War and even well into Vietnam.

"A lot of target shooters use them in competitions at the national level -- it's a powerful round," Webb continued. "The machine work on them is extraordinary for a wartime, big-production gun. Gen. (George) Patton called them 'the best battle implement ever devised.' You can't get a better endorsement than that."

According to Jim Richardson's research, four different manufacturers made the rifle for the military.

Winchester was one of the manufacturers that made the fewest. The special receiver -- a term for a part of the weapon -- on it makes it even more rare.

"It didn't matter. Once I found it, I was going to buy it," he said. "My mom told me that since he got it, my dad has been scouring the Internet, doing more research on the rifle. He's like a kid in a candy shop."

Virgil Richardson admits he's just hoping his marksman skills will come back to him quickly when he fires the gun for the first time on his birthday, Oct. 26.

"What shocked me the most is how very heavy it is," he said. "I have trouble now holding it up and aiming it. I guess they were made for 20- and 21-year-olds."

Jim Richardson wants to take a few special shots, too, but not with the rifle. He plans to capture the moment on film.



Yes, I know that to purists, unless all of the rifle's components have matching serial numbers that the rifle isn't the rifle, but that's a quibble, argue that in the comments if you wish to.