There might be some interest in this .32 made by Ideal on the Ruby pattern for the French and Italians. It came with a letter written by T/4 Glady's neighbor who was given the pistol on his passing. From the letter:
Glady was in the WWII Signal Corps, 34th Signal Company attached to the 34th Infantry Division. The 34th Division was the first unit sent to Europe and had the most days in combat of any WWII unit. They started in North Africa, Sicily, Monte Cassino and fought up through Italy into Germany.
Per the letter, Glady's CO was out of camera film and Glady and a companion had a jeep and against standing orders, ended up in the Vatican. The traded a carton of cigarettes for the pistol and were able to buy film for the CO's camera. Apparently the grips were missing or damaged as he made replacements from the windshield of a downed German airplane. The inserts under the grip are from a mail envelope and the picture of the lady may have been a sweetheart or his wife.
There is one question regarding this pistol. The slide has a hole for the holster rivet, a round head rivet added by the French to move the holster leather out of the way during holstering. Before the rivet fix, the holster moved the safety to fire with embarassing results. Glady may have removed the rivet as it does interfere with access to the safety. The question is--did the French add the rivet during the war or after? If during the war, was the rivet added by the manufacturers? Italy also bought these pistols but does the presence of the rivet tend to indicate the pistol migrated to Italy from France?
Glady was in the WWII Signal Corps, 34th Signal Company attached to the 34th Infantry Division. The 34th Division was the first unit sent to Europe and had the most days in combat of any WWII unit. They started in North Africa, Sicily, Monte Cassino and fought up through Italy into Germany.
Per the letter, Glady's CO was out of camera film and Glady and a companion had a jeep and against standing orders, ended up in the Vatican. The traded a carton of cigarettes for the pistol and were able to buy film for the CO's camera. Apparently the grips were missing or damaged as he made replacements from the windshield of a downed German airplane. The inserts under the grip are from a mail envelope and the picture of the lady may have been a sweetheart or his wife.
There is one question regarding this pistol. The slide has a hole for the holster rivet, a round head rivet added by the French to move the holster leather out of the way during holstering. Before the rivet fix, the holster moved the safety to fire with embarassing results. Glady may have removed the rivet as it does interfere with access to the safety. The question is--did the French add the rivet during the war or after? If during the war, was the rivet added by the manufacturers? Italy also bought these pistols but does the presence of the rivet tend to indicate the pistol migrated to Italy from France?
