Pennsylvania Game News - December 2024 - 23

connects the stock to the receiver. That
bolt rests in a round pocket of sorts, 6 to
8 inches long and about three-quarters of
an inch in diameter.
It wasn't empty. The pocket was
stuff ed, as vintage rifl es of the sort
sometimes are, said Russell, a 52-year
veteran of the gunsmithing business.
" Every once in a while, I'll come
across something, like maybe a receipt
for the gun, the $25 they paid for it
in maybe 1939, " Russell said. " It's
interesting because these things go way
back and often no one in the family knew
it was there because the individual who
originally owned the gun is deceased. "
That was the case here.
" When Lou called me and told me
I could get the gun, he handed me this
old, brittle, rolled-up piece of newspaper
that he found behind the butt plate, in the
stock, " Olson said. " It kind of looked
like an old cigar, is what it resembled. "
The newspaper was from the
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, dating to
1943. Battered, fragile and yellow,
roughly torn at the edges, it was wrapped
around a handful of wooden matches
and a striker pad off a matchbook.
" I call it a time capsule survivor kit
that's been in the back of that gun for 81
years, " Olson said.
It's unlikely his dad knew it was there,
as he probably never took the butt plate
off , Olson said. That's hardly unusual,
Russell added. Few hunters have any
need to remove a butt plate, so treasures
hidden stay hidden.
" Unless there's a malfunction, most
guys just use the gun, " Russell said.
" They're happy, so they never take it
apart and whatever's in there stays for
years and years. "
The newspaper in Olson's rifl e proves
that.
DECEMBER 2024
One of the partially-readable articles
is about First. Lt. H.A. Langstaff of Mt.
Lebanon, near Pittsburgh. Langstaff ,
known as Harold or " Hap, " had his story
under the headline " Marine fl ier gets his
Zero. "
The Sun-Telegraph reported that
Langstaff " sent an attacking ... Zero
fi ghter down into the sea in smoking
fl ames. "
The aerial battle, it further said, took
place when Japanese fi ghters attacked
American bombers striking at airfi elds
at Ballale and Kahili. Langstaff closed
in on a Zero that was on the tail of his
division leader, " fi ring all the time... "
Most of the rest of his story is missing.
But Olson tracked down Langstaff 's
daughter, Nancy Langstaff Krakauer,
who lives in Sacramento, Calif. She's
fi lled in some more details about his life.
As it turns out, he was " a true
American hero, " Olson said.
Langstaff graduated from Mt.
Lebanon High School, played football
at the University of Michigan, joined
the Marine Corps in 1941 and was
an aviator by July 1942. He fl ew 113
combat missions and shot down not
one but three Zeros in the Guadalcanal
campaign, earning the Distinguished
Flying Cross and eight Air Medals.
Later, he fl ew another 75 combat
missions in Korea.
" Hap was an aggressive and skilled
fi ghter pilot who led by example, "
reads information from the Alumni
Association of the Michigan Alpha
Chapter Phi Delta Theta. " He fl ew over
64,000 accident-free hours in an era
when this accomplishment was a rare
exception... "
He remained on active service through
1962, passing away in 2011 at 90.
Another short article visible in its
23
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2024

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