Next month begins the first of several auctions of the late R. Lee Ermey‘s firearms and memorabilia collection. Proceeds, in part, will go the the Young Marines charity. And if you’ve never had a chance to look in the Gunny’s safe to see his guns, the sale provides an interesting glimpse into his personal collection.
The marine-turned-actor-actor rose to prominence with his exceptional performance in the movie Full Metal Jacket. Even after achieving fame, he remained a really nice guy who became a regular feature at places like Knob Creek Machinegun shoots, NRA Conventions, and the SHOT Show.
According to Wiki, Ermey enlisted in the Marines in 1961 at age 17. Eventually, he became a drill instructor serving at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. Later he dabbled in Hollywood, catching not only an acting role in Apocalypse Now (as a helicopter pilot), but also serving as a technical advisor to Director Francis Ford Coppola.
His big break came in 1987 when Stanley Kubrick hired him as a technical advisor for Full Metal Jacket. Pretty soon, Kubrick liked watching Ermey coach the casted actor with such authenticity that he ditched the thespian and gave the role to Ermey himself who knocked it out of the park.
Then in 2002, after using his larger-than-life persona from the Full Metal Jacket portrayal in part to enthusiastically promote his beloved US Marine Corps, Ermey received an honorary promotion to gunnery sergeant (to match his rank in Full Metal Jacket) by none other than the Commandant of the Marine Corps at the time, General James Jones.
He hosted the Mail Call show on The History Channel in 2002 and that lasted for seven years. Here is a tribute to the legend of a man. (NSFW)
Given his affinity for hanging with gun owners (even if it was at the behest of sponsors), Ermey own more than a few firearms himself.
In a series of six sales, under the title of “R. Lee Ermey Auctions 2,” a whole slew of guns from black powder to modern firearms are going on the block. They are available for us to peruse here.
The first listing for the sale that starts November 6th is an M1D Garand sniper rifle from Springfield Armory, obtained through the CMP. How fitting.
It just gets better from there.
‘I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be “Sir”. Do you maggots understand that? ‘
“Sir, yes sir!”
One of my proudest moments was meeting R Lee Ermey at the GLOCK Match in Atlanta GA a number of years ago. I spent about an hour eating dinner at the match with the Gunny. He gave me a Gunny challenge coin and autographed his picture.
I found him to be the perfect example of what a Marine Gunny should be.
Cool sale for a good cause…wish I had the coin to bid! Simper Fi.
NCO’s hold the military together and make it run. Smart officers get out of their way and let them handle business.
I was fortunate enough to serve at a time when we had ww2, korean and VN vets in our units. The education was priceless.
Do you know the difference between a Fairy Tale and a War Story?
Fairy Tale starts out, ‘Once upon a time……’
War Story starts out,’ This ain’t no shit, man….’
I was not a Marine. I spent most of my time jumping out of airplanes that hadn’t landed yet. It was a profiless endeavor. My cousin. Edgar, was a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines. A drill sergeant at Camp Pendleton. I remember working with him on Grandpa’s farm in Mississippi when I was a kid. God have mercy on those boots.
My Uncle Richard was a Marine during Vietnam and actually had Lee Ermy as his drill sergeant.
He and my aunt went to see full metal jacket, not knowing that Ermy was in the film.
My aunt told the story that as soon as his voice came on Uncle Richard went white and walked out. Uncle Richard was a hard MF, told us all that the big chunk out of his leg was from a time that he lost wrestling an alligator. Of course, it was from Vietnam. He was a big, tough old dude, but just Ermy’s voice still scared the hell out of him.
This is probably fairly common knowledge, but the actor who lost the part of Hartman was Tim Colchieri (sp?) who ended up taking the much smaller (but still memorable) part of the helicopter door gunner.
“Anyone who runs, is a VC. Anyone who doesn’t run, is a *well-trained* VC!”
“Anyone who runs, is a VC. Anyone who doesn’t run, is a *well-trained* VC!”
Close, but not quite :
“Anyone who runs is a VC. Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined VC”
Only, if you don’t lead too much. Ain’t war hell.
Youtube has a video explaining how, R. Lee had beaten Kubrick’s first choice for Hartman.
@ The Rookie, “sociopath” door gunner: yeah yeah, get some, get some, oooooh get some….yeah yeah yeah get some.
Private Joker: Why should we do a story about you?
Door Gunner: ”Cuz I’m so f…’in”good!!!!! I done got me 157 dead gooks killed. Plus 50 water buffalo, too! Them’s all confirmed!
Private Joker: Any women or children?
Door Gunner: Sometimes!
Private Joker: How can you shoot women or children?
Door Gunner: Easy! Ya just don’t lead ’em so much! Ain’t war hell?
The shocking facts are that actually happened over and over as General Julian Ewell, known by his own men as “The Butcher of the delta” issued orders for the mass murder of the rice farmers and their entire families. The idiot thought they were willingly helping the Viet Cong. Helicopter gunships were ordered to hover over the helpless rice farmers who were working in their rice fields. The copter was then ordered to go lower and lower to make the farmers and their wives and children run because then it was supposedly legal to kill them as “the enemy”. Ewell killed so many farmers that what was left fled to the outskirts of Saigon where they were put in U.S. concentration camps with little food, no medical care and no education for the children. Rice crops fell so low Vietnam went from a rice exporter (1/3 of the worlds supply) to having to have the U.S. import rice to feed the people. It was the perfect breeding ground for the Viet Cong to recruit them which was the opposite of the Moron Ewell wanted to happen. Unfortunately Ewell was never prosecuted for the war criminal that he was. He took no back seat to the German Nazi’s of WWII and their horrific crimes.
For further reading the book “Kill Anything That Moves” by Nick Turse makes fascinating if not horrific and sickening reading on the mass murders by U.S. forces in Vietnam.
darcy do do…slugs like you need propaganda to justify undermining any war effort…You can do that because your wimpy behind sits stateside out of harm’s way.
Your time would be better spent trying to locate algore’s never issued M16. Let us know how your search goes.
lil’d is the spiritual soul mate to dylan roof. He fantasizes about rape and murder.
He is one sick SS storm trooper wannabe. It is best to not engage him.
And were the VC or NVA any better? They also committed atrocities in their ideological zeal. The famous film and photo of the VC prisoner being summarily executed by a police chief was because the prisoner had murdered the entire family of a friend of the chief.
Real rifles for real men, not these AR-15 rodent rifles that are so puny that even a rodent can shoot them.
As much as I am a big fan of The Gunny and how much I would love to own one of his rifles, there are far too many people far more deserving than I. He was a man among men. He will be missed.
Nothing spectacular there and most will go for 10 times there worth simply because he owned them. People with money to burn will buy them and if kept long enough they might make a few bucks profit on them someday, assuming he is not eventually forgotten by the younger generation.
I often wondered if he really assaulted recruits as was portrayed in the movie “Full Metal Jacket”. If he did he belonged in jail.
A old Friend of mine from the “gang” said to me “If he did those things there obviously wasn’t any real men being harassed and brutalized by him because if they had been real men they would have killed him outright or found a way later to get him when he had no help around him.
My friend from the old “gang” also said and I quote.
quote—————–“It made my blood boil when I saw that part of the movie. He was lucky I was never drafted, (I made damn sure of that). I would have killed him outright or if there were too many of them I would have found a way to get him later when he was alone and I do not fight fair I fight to win that way you never lose and when a sadistic bully thinks that you would be the last guy to ever harm him it comes as a complete surprise. You learn all the tricks when you grow up on the streets of a big city. I waylaid more than one bully in my life. I chose the time and place and sometimes even wore a mask and they never knew who hit them or why. It usually took just one blow to the head with a large club. It really takes the fight out of them and then you can kick the shit out of them when they are down. Kicking the shit out of that asshole would have been glorious, it almost makes we wish I would have been drafted but I was never that dumb.————–quote
He was a real clown on TV and quite laughable and I observed some younger people who observed him for the first time and they all thought he was bat shit nuts. They asked me if he was for real. I told them that he probably was that nuts. The police and the military are magnets for nut cases like that.
I did watch his show on firearms, it was one of kind and entertaining but had a lot of errors in it which of course I expected.. He personally revealed he did not know much about the
history of firearms so he relied on the guest collectors and experts to explain everything to him.
I am surprised at his collection as I would have thought with the money he made in the movie and on TV he would have bought some firearms of higher value and rarity. Maybe firearms were really not his bag so to speak or maybe he was just stingy with his money, its often a hall mark of the far right. I am sure his relatives who inherited his money were glad he did not spend much of it.
darcy dodo…Put a sock in your piehole…It is the only way you can benefit society.
dacian;
All of your comments here are ridiculous and ignorant but this time this one in particular betrays you…
“Maybe firearms were really not his bag so to speak or maybe he was just stingy with his money, its often a hall mark of the far right. I am sure his relatives who inherited his money were glad he did not spend much of it.”
1. It is not a “hall mark of the far right” or the far left or the center or any other groups or category. “Stingy” means, for people, those who are unwilling to give or spend money, people who are not generous. Next time how about a little exploration of the English language and discover how to properly use “stingy”, and your ignorant use of “hall mark” which by the way is not two words but rather is one word as in “hallmark” which means “that is typical of a particular person or thing”.
An example of proper use of “hallmark” is: “dacian has all the hallmarks of an ignorant person.”
An example of proper use of “stingy” is: “dacian was stingy when it came to paying for medications he needs badly.”
2. What a very ignorant thing to say, period.
Booger Brain you are so desperate to play one-upmanship that you have to result to childish games. Stick to the subject and quit acting like a kid in a school yard. Grow up. I guess you got burned by me so often when discussing a subject it made you desperate.
its not “one-upmanship”. Its trying to get you to provide a coherent genuine argument for once.
What I replied was sticking to the subject, a subject you posted, a context you posted and one that is 100% wrong. If you do not want someone replying to you pointing out yet more of your false posts with your made up and grossly confirmation biased applications then do not post.
“one-upmanship” LoL
Although I appreciate the compliment that you think I am superior to you, don’t let me being superior inhibit you.
Dacian, the dunce, you are showing just how prejudiced you are. R Lee Ermey was a real man. You are just a high private in the rear rank who is more that just rank.
Next you are going to tell us you are an appraiser of firearms. You bring joke a whole brand new meaning.
Don’t go away made, just depart with your tail between your legs.
to Booger Brain
quote————-1. It is not a “hall mark of the far right” or the far left or the center or any other groups or category———–quote
What planet do you live on Booger Brain.
The Republican Party and most if not all far right groups like the Proud Boys, KKK etc. etc. Have two defining characteristics, they are racist to the core and they would cut their own mothers throat to make 1 more penny profit. They are so tight and stingy and cheap every penny that passes through their hands is squeezed so tightly it screams for mercy.
On this forum the far right are so cheap and stingy than rather than spend a few bucks to join the NRA they would rather lose their entire gun collection tomorrow.
I have many gun collector friends who have told me that they have stopped going to gun shows altogether because of the type of people that hang out there. They are greedy , mean, sadistic, racist to the core and would cut their own mothers throat to make a penny.
Booger Brain you live in your own fantasy world with eyes closed to all around you and its the stingy to the core person that would post what you just did. Its called denial and guilt (assuming you even ever had any.)
apparently, neither I or anyone else lives on planet dacian where one can intentionally take things out of context to invent an entirely new stupid argument as a way of life.
Booger Brain
Give up you just made a complete fool of yourself as usual.
Dacian, the Dunce, There are major problems with your post.
1st the KKK was founded by Democrats in the South during Reconstruction.
2nd and I repeat, you socialist have a long history of racism and civil rights violations. I reiterate that Planned Parenthood was founded by Margret Sanger and Fania Mindell, but known racists and socialists, to propagate EUGENICS. Did I forget to mention Woodrow Wilson, a socialist and rabid racist?
3rd, Ill venture a guess that most of the participants here are NRA members. I know I am a Patriot Endowment Life Member.
4th, speaking of fantasy worlds, that is your main thing. Your fantasy is you know something about guns. LOL
DACIAN, the DUNCE, Speaking of fools: the guy who uses Alfred E Newman as his avatar is the biggest fool of all. At least flies serve a useful purpose. They eat truds and bother people. You are more like a flea. You just suck blood and serve no useful purpose at all.
Not a single Glock…..intredasting??
I do not think Ermey even knew what a Glock was.
DACIAN the Dunce, I am more than sure you have no clue was a GLOCK is.
dacian, for your edification, I met R Lee Ermey at a GLOCK match in GA and we had about a 20 minute conversation. He gave me his challenge coin which I value to this day. Now, go take a flying leap, DUNDERHEAD
Yeah, his series of “Somebody picked the wrong…” commercials for Glock were pretty funny, not to mention his regular use of them on “Gun Talk”. It was pretty clear from those that he thought well of pistols. Maybe the sellers just didn’t think they would go for much.
Maybe his personal carry guns were kept by family members as mementos?
@ jwtaylor….your right….. if people reading the above article would click on the very first sentence showing (blue highlighted) (“R. Lee Ermey‘s”) it opens up with several pictures of Lee wearing sponsored Glock shirts and Jackets…..he knows damn well what a Glock is like you mentioned in your best satire form at the little “dacian” commenter!
Chris, did you read the article? This was ONLY part of his collection.
This is what happens when we die – people pick over and/or rummage though the contents of our lives if we want them to or not. So when it comes time for you to die make sure the contents you leave behind are really interesting and worth while.
It was once said that a man is a curator of an item for a given period of time. I agree with that sentiment although it doesn’t address the non permanence of items as well. As it was once said, consider the speed of which objects in the world vanish as well as their memory or something to that effect.
He was a good man from what I saw. I met him once. Down to earth and loved people which surprised me. I’d love to have some of this but I know it’ll go sky high which is ok too.
I love that picture I found at the top of the page. Just a great guy who willingly gave so much of his time to people he hadn’t even met yet. And he loved the kiddos, too!
Prayers and best thoughts to Larry Vickers.
He played the same character in the much earlier movie The Boys in Company C FMJ was a bit of a ripoff of that movie. You do see him pre dental work though.
No NFA weaponry.
Si Semper Fi
Go With God
Si Semper Fi
Go With GOD!
Surley Be Missed
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DACIAN, the DUNCE, Speaking of fools: the guy who uses Alfred E Newman as his avatar is the biggest fool of all. At least flies serve a useful purpose. They eat truds and bother people. You are more like a flea. You just suck blood and serve no useful purpose at all.
He was a good man from what I saw. I met him once. Down to earth and loved people which surprised me. I’d love to have some of this but I know it’ll go sky high which is ok too.
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