re: Veterans: How much use does a military pistol actually get in deployment?

I have two stories shared by my father and a platoon member who shared with me at a reunion that my father hosted at his home after his retirement. Both were how his sidearm saved his life. In WWII he survived the Iwo Jima landing and he was guarding his buddy while sleeping in a naval shell hole with his .45 in his hand. One night a shell exploded and illuminated a Japanese soldier attempting to bayonet his buddy. My father shot the Japanese with his pistol and saved his buddy and himself. He was discharged by the Marines and went to school and got his commission in the Army prior to Korea. In Korea on July 31, 1950 his company was overrun by the North Koreans and he was wounded through the thigh with a Burp Gun. He was of one of six out of the entire rifle company to survive the attack. He was able to get down the hill with his .45 in stomach of a South Korean who spoke to the North Koreans on the way down the hill.