15 Facts About John Garand

John Garand's father moved to Jewett City, Connecticut, with the children when their mother died in 1899.

The children were employed in a textile mill where John Garand learned to speak English while sweeping floors.

John Garand became interested in guns and learned to shoot after working at a shooting gallery.

John Garand learned machinist skills while working at the textile mill, and was hired by Browne and Sharpe, a Providence, Rhode Island, toolmaking company in 1909.

That year the United States Army took bids on designs for a light machine gun, and John Garand's design was eventually selected by the War Department.

John Garand was appointed to a position with the United States Bureau of Standards in Washington DC, with the task of perfecting the weapon.

In Springfield, Massachusetts, John Garand was tasked with designing a basic gas-actuated self-loading infantry rifle and carbine that would eject the spent cartridge and reload a new round using a gas-operated system.

The John Garand Rifle proved to be an effective and reliable weapon and was praised by General MacArthur.

When John Garand retired in 1953, the second version of the T31 was incomplete.

John Garand never received any royalties from his M1 rifle design despite over six and a half million M1 rifles being manufactured as he transferred all rights regarding his inventions to the US on January 20,1936.

John Garand remained in his consulting position with the Springfield Armory until his retirement in 1953.

John Garand married French Canadian widow Nellie Bruce Shepard on September 6,1930, in Albany, New York.

John Garand had two daughters by her previous marriage, and they had a daughter and a son of their own.

John Garand died in Springfield, Massachusetts, on February 16,1974, and was buried at Hillcrest Park Cemetery there.

In 1973, John Garand was inducted into the US Army Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame for designing the M1 Rifle or The John Garand.