Eventually Girens became President of the Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs Association.

In 1932, he became a member of the Oshkosh Fire Department, and became Chief of that Department in 1945. He married Mary Weisaple and they had at least one son together, Leo Elmer Girens. Records indicate in 1930 he was a truck driver. By the age of 17, Leo Girens was working as a laborer for an unidentified Sash and Door Factory. His father was a painter in the carriage industry. Let’s look at the individual Leo Girens.Ĭensus records indicate Leo Girens was born Apof Joseph and Anna Girens in Winnebago, Wisconsin. During the Post WWI era, served mostly in the Midwest (probably Iowa since that is where it was moved to). Now the 14th Cavalry only served in the Mexican Border War, never made it to Europe during World War I. It gives you a purchase point, in the “buying sense,” but in the sense to an anchor point to start digging. This particular rifle’s serial number is associated to the 14th Cavalry and a specific trooper. But what was most intriguing about this rifle is that it had an individual attached to it. Next, it can be pinpointed to a specific unit. One it can be documented to a specific piece of paperwork from the archives. This rifle is unique for several reasons. This rifle currently resides in a private collection on the East Coast. It unfortunately, does not denote the reason or scope of the test. The rifle has been altered but based on the conditions of the reciever, it was never a M1903 A5 Sniper rifle, and there is no mention of any telescopic sights in the testing. This is another example why primary documentation is extremely important for the purposes of historical research. Some rifles had as many as 5600 rounds fired through the rifle during the testing phase. The test indicates the condition of the rifles, where the rifles came from and how many rounds were fired through them. The files indicate these rifles were used in a ammunition test, the test was concluded and WRA was requesting shipping instructions since they were still government property on loan for the test. That however is nothing more than conjecture since no one has been able to locate the files since they were first discovered.

Many believed these were M1903 A5 Sniper rifles which were sent to WRA for repairs following World War I. The speculation is that since the majority of these serial numbers are in the 600,000 serial number range attributed to Winchester Repeating Arms (WRA) Company in 1919. There are 150 M1903 and 29 M1917 rifles on the list. The serial numbers have been known among collectors. These numbers will be included in our January 2019 serial number lists. This rifle was recently discovered from a list of Serial numbers in the files of the Office of Chief of Ordnance.

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M1903 serial numbers