Remember The Snipers: A collection of military history

By Aaron Kruse

A look at three different snipers from different countries. 
CHUCK MAWHINNEY 
Charles "Chuck" Mawhinney holds the record for the most confirmed kills by a United States Marine Corps sniper. He recorded 103 confirmed kills and 216 "probable kills" during his 16 month service in the Vietnam War. The 216 are listed as "probables" because it was too risky to search for the bodies to retrieve weapons and documents. 
If you take into account that the 216 may be a low estimate and add it to his 103 confirmed kills, Mawhinney may be the most prolific sniper in the history of combat. 
FRANCIS THE CANADIAN SNIPER 
Francis was of Ojibwa ancestry. The Ojibwa or Chippewa are the second largest First Nation population in Canada (their numbers are exceeded only by the Cree). They were known for their use of birch bark canoes and their invention of cooper arrow points. Interestingly, they are one of the few First Nation populations to incorporate guns for use in battle. They obtained guns in trade with the British and used them to defeat the Dakota in the Lake Superior Area. 
BILLY SING, AUSTRALIA'S GREATEST SNIPER 
Billy Sing, one of military history's most successful snipers, is best known for his efforts during the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I where he logged over 150 confirmed kills. 
His story began on March 2nd, 1886 when he was born in Clermont, Queensland, Australia. His father, John Sing, was originally from Shanghai, China. His mother, Mary Ann Sing, was a nurse from Staffordshire, England. Billy's father did a variety of odd jobs, primarily working as a drover, delivering livestock to farms across the countryside. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201172343

Book preview

REMEMBER THE SNIPERS

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AARON KRUSE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FRANCIS PEGAHMAGABOW

BILLY SING

CHUCK MAWHINNEY

Francis Pegahmagabow 

Francis Pegahmagabow was born on March 9th, 1891 on the Shawanaga First Nation reserve in Parry Sound, Ontario. His father, Michael Pegahmagabow, had been born and raised in the same town. His mother, Mary Contin, grew up further north on the shores of the Georgian Bay.

Francis was of Ojibwa ancestry. The Ojibwa or Chippewa are the second largest First Nation population in Canada (their numbers are exceeded only by the Cree). They were known for their use of birch bark canoes and their invention of cooper arrow points. Interestingly, they are one of the few First Nation populations to incorporate guns for use in battle. They obtained guns in trade with the British and used them to defeat the Dakota in the Lake Superior Area.

Francis' father and grandfather were former chiefs on the Parry Island (Wasauksing) Band where he grew up. The Ojibwa lived in groups that were also known as bands. The tribe embraced a sedentary lifestyle, remaining on the island to fish in order to supplement their diet of maize and squash. This diet also included wild rice as a primary staple.

BORN FOR WAR

Military heroics were part of his family's folklore as his paternal grandfather had received honors for his involvement in the War of 1812.

Diamond Jenness, an anthropologist who worked alongside Francis after he returned from the war, wrote an ethnography on the Ojibwa people.

Francis Pegahmagabow came from a chiefly lineage, Jenness wrote. Both his father and grandfather had been Chiefs of the band. We learn of his name, not just in its literal meaning, but also in a more contextual sense: Pegahmagabow...means 'it advances and halts, advances and halts,' and refers to the passage of a hurricane that seems to halt while it uproots the trees and bushes in its path.

Francis' father died when the boy was only two years of age. His own mother abandoned him, leaving the reserve and returning to her Native community in the Henvy Inlet band. She left Francis in the care of her husband's brother. The reasons for her abandonment aren't clear but the tribal elders caught wind of the situation and, with the approval of Francis' uncle, appointed his care to an elderly tribe member named Noah Nebimanyquod  or Peter Pamagewong (there are two competing accounts here). But what both testimonies agree upon is that Noah/Peter was a tribal elder and adoptive grandfather who had also helped to raise his Francis' father in the nearby Ojibwa community of Shawanaga, about 30 kilometers north of Parry Island.

This village elder, however, had raised Francis' father decades earlier and was surely too old at the time to properly care for the infant. Frances' uncle would die a year after the custodial transfer and Francis' own children would go on to say later that their father went from family to family in the tribe with the majority of his youth being spent under the care of a man name Frank Kewaquendo.

As stated previously, Francis grew up hunting and fishing. Determined to grow up strong, Francis forced himself to run long-distances to build up his stamina. In being shuffled from family to family, Francis was able to maintain a sense of community and appreciation for the traditional Anishaabe upbringing. He developed a healthy imagination in the Ojibwa myths with its tall tales of the supernatural. 

My father and another Indian named Turtle shot a deer one morning a little north of Parry sound, Francis recalled. "They were paddling back to their camp. My father, who was sitting in the bow of the canoe, called out, 'Look.' Both men saw the back of an enormous turtle protruding from the

water in front of them. The monster raised its head and gazed at them, its eyes shining like large mirrors. The Indian in the stern lost consciousness and fell forward, but my father turned around in his seat and steered the