Sergeant Major James Tebbe's H&R M622 revolver

Vietnam1965 · Nov 27, 2021

Sergeant Major James Tebbe's H&R M622 revolver. According to the seller this was bought from Tebbe family at a gun show after James had passed. Included was a leather shoulder holster that was moldy and rotten which was thrown away. This officer carried this little revolver all throughout his time in the military, including Vietnam.The photo of him and an I.D. card for a protective mask came with the rare issue revolver. The revolver is parkerized and stamped with the flaming bomb. Flaming Bomb markings are located on front trigger guard, right side and from frame on left. Ordnance markings on this type of revolver have not been seen before so its unclear if he did it himself or it was a fantasy piece someone made up.

Doctor_M · Nov 28, 2021

That's pretty cool. Didn't even know that these were ever military issue. Learned something new! Thanks.

River02 · Nov 28, 2021

Interesting-- but the photo and the mask card do not seem to match up. The mask card belongs to a Sergeant Major James Tebbe assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 3rd Battalion of an Infantry Unit---definitely Army. Sergeant Major, abbreviated SGM, is a Senior Enlisted Rank in the Army. The individual in the photo is wearing the rank of either Major or Lieutenant Colonel (I'd bet Major) in the U.S. Air Force--definitely not Army. The uniform is definitely not vintage Viet Nam U.S. Army officers or NCOs--and he's not wearing his issue name tag in the photo so getting the last name of the character here is not gonna happen. There's likely an interesting story there somewhere but we'll never know what it is. Cool pice though.

Vietnam1965 · Nov 28, 2021

Interesting info River thanks. I have a friend who researches the vets for me and hopefully he can find some info on Tebbe... maybe even a picture.

Biggfoot44 · Nov 29, 2021

That a service member carried a 622 in shoulder holster in Vietnam , plausible .

That it was issued ? I'd be curious for any reference or documentation that US purchased any .

From the obscurity file , when OSS was disbanded , all their ordance was transfered to US Army , and some of them were refinished and stamped at Letterkenny , but since 622 introduced in 1957 , not one of those .

There are references to various H&R , usually 6 inch , being purchased for various base Rod & Gun Clubs , but not as Martial Arms .

Searches on this subject all turn up this specific revolver .

Most plausible guess , within context of accepting that it was present in Vietnam :

Privately owned gun . Under same conditions that rotted the holster , the gun became rusty .

Somebody knew somebody in weapon repair facility , and somebody did/ owed a favor , and did off the books park job , and added the stamps either as a gag , or at request of owner to give cover if any higher ranking officer were to question his carrying it .

I could be wrong , but with all the collector interest in everything Military Issue , we would have heard of these decades ago .

Vietnam1965 · Dec 4, 2021

The real James Tebbe has been found! Definitely a different man then the picture that came with the grouping.
https://www.vvmf.org/Honor-Roll/500306/James-Joseph-Tebbe/

Sergeant Major James Tebbe's H&R M622 revolver

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