No Laughing Matter

Before shipping out, my grandfather ducked into a pawn shop and purchased two .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolvers in armpit holsters. On his first night in Africa, he was posted on guard duty at the ammunition depot. A solid round from a weapon such as a pistol could easily set off all the ammo in the depot, so only shotguns were allowed in that area. Nobody ever mentioned this to Granddad.

He had the intended 12 gauge shotgun, his Smith & Wessons, his issued .45 caliber Colt sidearm, and just for good measure, a Thompson Sub-Machine gun (the one mobsters pull out of violin cases) with a 250 round drum magazine.

Around 2am, a hyena laughed at him, and took off up a tree. Yes, hyenas can climb trees. He issued a 'stand and be recognized' order but got no response, so he thought it was an enemy soldier. He opened fire with his sidearm, both revolvers, the machine gun, and the shotgun. The camp thought they were under full attack!

He was in the process of reloading the Tommy before someone ordered him to stand down. When he was finally calm enough, they went to find the remains of the intruder. There were only small pieces of fur left to identify what he had shot. His commanding officer remarked that it was perfectly clear how my grandfather got his Expert Marksmanship medal, because he figured that he had hit that hyena with every shot that he had fired: 9 rounds from the .45, 12 rounds from the Smith & Wessons, 250 from the Tommy gun, and 5 from the shotgun!

The guy who put a rookie on post in the ammo supply without proper instruction was in serious trouble, but Granddad never got much out of it, aside of the satisfaction of anhilating his intruder!