"The Real Glory" and the Colt 45

Gary Cooper is the featured actor in the 1939 film, The Real Glory. He plays an Army doctor faced with cholera and Muslim fanatics in the Philippines of 1906. The movie has a certain creepy timeliness and can be dramatically compared with the suicidal attacks of Islam today. [The Army doctor in the movie broke the will of the Moro leader (Alipang) in front of the scared Christian Filipinos by threatening to bury Alipang in a pigskin! ]

Not too many people realize that the Muslim fanatics in the Philippines were responsible for the development of the Colt 45 automatic handgun. The new pistol was especially designed for the U.S. Army by John Moses Browning, because our soldiers had been unable to stop an attacking Moro with their smaller .38 cal revolver. More stopping power was needed.

On March 29th, 1911, the Browning-designed, Colt-produced .45 automatic pistol, was selected as the official sidearm of the Armed Forces of U.S.A., and named Model 1911.