YANKS Miniatures
9610

To my knowledge, this was the first GI KIA offered to modelers. Since then, Verlinden has produced a few but other manufacturers seem reluctant to touch on this gritty element of AFV modeling.

The sculptor has given us a realistic pose. This unlucky fellow is lying on his stomach, his left arm bent back and upward, his right arm outstretched. He has a musette bag strapped over his shoulder. His facial expression looks, well, dead.  

He wears the longer M1943 coat in olive drab, but the sculptor erred in giving him the cuff tabs that found on the M1941 jacket instead. The low-rise leather gaiters will place him in dioramas from the autumn of 1944 onward. The pants can be painted either a woolen brown or HBT olive drab. The sculpting is a bit coarse. The arms don’t lay flush with ground and must be fiddled with. The man is more on the scale of Verlinden and Warriors figures.

The package photo shows an M1 carbine propped against a concrete dragon’s tooth. The GI wears a cartridge belt. So one might think this weapon would be included, but it is not. The only additional equipment is a shovel. You'll need to provide any other weapons or gear .

This is a somber but worthy subject and a reminder of the ultimate cost that many GIs paid in the defense of freedom.

-tss-