More than any other branch, the Marine Corps built its identity around the rifle, and in 1917 that rifle was the Model of 1903 Springfield. Chambered for the .30-06 cartridge and accurate well past 500 yards, the bolt-action Springfield rewarded the Corps' obsession with marksmanship — a Marine qualified on the range before he qualified for anything else. When the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments reached France, German troops accustomed to massed fire were unnerved by Marines dropping men at ranges they had thought safe. That deliberate, aimed fire became a signature of the Corps in the Great War, and the root of the creed that every Marine is a rifleman.

W. Britain stands the Marine at the edge of a French field, the slung M1903 Springfield over his shoulder and the flat-brimmed M1917 helmet shadowing his eyes. He wears the forest-green wool service coat and breeches, canvas leggings over field shoes, cartridge pouches on the belt and a haversack rig across the chest — the kit of a 2nd Division Marine in the summer of 1918. He forms a Belleau Wood firing line beside the Marine advancing with rifle and the Marine standing firing, with a Marine carrying the Chauchat to lay down automatic fire.

W. Britain model 13061. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), solid metal hand-painted in a matte finish. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Supplied in original W. Britain packaging.