My grandfather gave a pretty good accounting of himself during the early 1940's both in the Aleutians and some garden spots in the South Pacific. He had a dim view of pistols in general, and the 1911 in particular.
Shortly before he died, I had occasion to put a 1911 in his hands that was mildly customized with a slightly enlarged safety, a mild beavertail, and most importantly a set of Novak sights. He figured he could have raised some hell with that gun and actually hit something with those sights, as opposed the vestigal ones the original 1911 was equipped with. He was mildly pissed that his generation could figure out an A-bomb but not build a pistol with sights that were worth a damn.