On February 16, 1974, Canadian-American firearms designer John Cantius Garand passed away at the age of 86. Born in St. Rémi, Quebec, on January 1, 1888, Garand was one of twelve siblings. Following the death of his mother, his father moved the family to Jewett City, Connecticut, in 1899. After moving to American, Garand found employment in a textile mill and later a toolmaking company and also developed an interest in shooting and firearms, including the designing of such weapons. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1920, shortly after being employed as an engineer at the Springfield Armory in 1919.
It was at the Springfield Armory that John Garand worked on perfecting a semi-automatic service rifle. In 1936, his design was official adopted by the US Army as the M1 rifle, otherwise known as the M1 Garand. This rifle would serve as the standard issue rifle of the US armed forces through World War II and the Korean War before being replaced in the mid-1950s with the M14, itself a modified version of the basic M1 Garand design. Sniper versions of the rifle continued to see service with American troops through the Vietnam War. The Garand rifle was also provided as military aid to numerous countries during the Cold War, including Italy (which also produced their own copies and used the design as the basis for their own BM-59 rifle), Greece, Denmark, South Korea, South Vietnam, Iran, Republic of China, and West Germany among many others. The M1 also continues to appear in combat zones to this day, including in the recent and current conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
John C. Garand married Nellie Bruce Shepard (a widow with two daughters) and the couple had a son and a daughter together. While Garand was never awarded any royalties for his M1 design as he had transferred the rights to it to the US government, he did receive the Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Alexander L. Holley Medal, and the first Medal for Merit alongside Albert H. Taylor (a key figure in the early development of radar). Garand was also inducted into the US Army Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame in 1973 for his development of the M1 rifle.
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