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M26 hand grenade
The M26 hand grenade was developed in the years right after World War II. This was the first model of hand grenade which still used a cast iron body, but which enclosed either notched wire or shot to serve as the lethal fragments rather than the grenade body itself. This new type of grenade was much more reliable than the old Mk 2 "Pineapple" grenades.
Background Information
The Korean War and the 1950s
The M26 was developed and adopted by the U.S. Army just before the Korean War (1950-1953). However, since most units still had huge inventories of Mk 2 "Pineapple" grenades left over after World War II, the M26 rarely saw action in the Korean War. Throughout the 1950s it was the issued hand grenade for all Army units, despite the fact that we still had huge leftover inventories of the Mk 2 as well.
The Vietnam War and the 1960s
In the early 1960s, another improved version of the M26 was adopted, the M61. The M61 had a thin sheet metal body with a notched coiled flat wire and improved fuse. Though the M61 was now the official new hand grenade of the U.S. Armed Forces, the U.S. shipped tens of thousands of existing stock of Mk 2 Pineapple and M26 grenades to South Vietnam, for use by the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam). These were stored in huge military warehouses throughout the country and many M26s were provided to American troops in the field as well, despite the fact that all new grenade production was supposed to supply only the M61.
The massive increase in munitions requests resulted in a fast retooling of the older M26 line producing an updated grenade. The M26A1 had a better fuse and a different explosive compound. Eventually the M26A1 slowed production and halted, as did the M61 when production of the newer M67 ramped up.
During the conflict, a mix of M26/M26A1 and M61 hand grenades was in use by American forces in Vietnam. Most authors of war books or military articles never bother to reveal the complicated munitions supply issues of the conflict, and most only refer to the M26 as the hand grenade of choice, despite the fact that it is more likely that the virtually identical M61 is really the hand grenade that was used.
The M26 hand grenade and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
M26 Hand Grenade
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Underground | yacht guards | 2019 | ||
| Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw | Vanessa Kirby | Hattie Shaw | 2019 | |
| The Post | U.S. Marines | 2017 | ||
| Kong: Skull Island | Shea Whigham | Captain Earl Cole | 2017 | |
| The Heat | Sandra Bullock | FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn | 2013 | |
| Battleground | 2012 | |||
| Get the Gringo | 2012 | |||
| Rise of the Zombies | Mariel Hemingway | Dr. Lynn Snyder | 2012 | |
| LeVar Burton | Dr. Dan Halpern | |||
| Tomorrow, When the War Began | Ashleigh Cummings | Robyn Mathers | 2010 | |
| Inception | Ken Watanabe | Saito | With white paint | 2010 |
| Invisible Target | Ka Wah Lam | Senior Superintendent Cheung Man Yi | 2007 | |
| Mercenary for Justice | Langley Kirkwood | Kruger | 2006 | |
| Vivian Bieldt | Dekerk | |||
| Mercenaries | ||||
| We Were Soldiers | Jsu Garcia | Cpt. Tony Nadal | 2002 | |
| U.S. Army soldiers | ||||
| Cross Fire | on the poster | 2000 | ||
| The Siege | Terrorist | 1998 | ||
| Free Money | Thomas Haden Church | Larry | 1998 | |
| Recoil | Gary Daniels | Det. Ray Morgan | 1998 | |
| Recoil | Marcus Sloan and other robbers | 1998 | ||
| Tomorrow Never Dies | Used as part of IED | 1997 | ||
| Mercenary | Olivier Gruner | 'Hawk' | 1996 | |
| Forrest Gump | Gary Sinise | 2nd Lt. Dan Taylor | 1994 | |
| U.S. Army soldiers | ||||
| Never Say Die | Billy Drago | Reverend James | 1994 | |
| Hard Hunted | pilot | 1992 | ||
| Hard Boiled | Chow Yun-Fat | Tequila Yuen | 1992 | |
| Do or Die | Dona Speir | Donna Hamilton | 1991 | |
| Enemy | Peter Fonda | Ken Andrews | 1990 | |
| Enemy | Tia Carrere | Mai Chang | 1990 | |
| Die Hard 2 | William Sadler | Col. Stuart | 1990 | |
| Terrorists | ||||
| L. A. Bounty | Sybil Danning | Ruger | 1989 | |
| Red Scorpion | Kallunda | taken off Russian soldier | 1989 | |
| Casualties of War | U.S. Army soldiers | 1989 | ||
| Bulletproof | Darlanne Fluegel | Captain Devon Shepard | 1988 | |
| Lethal Weapon | Danny Glover | Roger Murtaugh | Disguised smoke grenade | 1987 |
| Seen in crashed car | ||||
| In Country | US troops | 1987 | ||
| Demon of Paradise | Soldiers | 1987 | ||
| Platoon | Robert "Rock" Galotti | Huffmeister | 1986 | |
| Kevin Dillon | Bunny | |||
| U.S. Army soldiers |
Television
| Title | Actor | Character | Note/Episode | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Minds | Michael Cudlitz | Francis Goehring | "Identity" (S3E07) | 2007 |
| Tour of Duty | U.S. soldiers | 1987-1990 | ||
| True Detective | Michael Greyeyes | Brett Woodward | 2019 | |
| Jack Ryan | John Krasinski | Jack Ryan | 2019 |
Anime
| Title | Character | Note | Air Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violence Jack: Hell's Wind Hen | Hell's Wind biker | 1990 | |
| New Dream Hunter Rem: Massacre in the Phantasmic Labyrinth | is seen in the Geppetto base | 1992 | |
| New Dominion Tank Police | Seen among confiscated contraband | 1993 | |
| Hyper Police | Mobster | 1997 | |
| Amazing Nurse Nanako | Soldier | 1999 | |
| Najica Blitz Tactics | Lila | 2001 | |
| Gunslinger Girl | Enrico Beldini | 2003 | |
| Elfen Lied | Sato | 2004 | |
| The Strange Case Files of Ryoko Yakushiji | Marianne | 2008 | |
| Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino | Franco | 2008 | |
| Mob Bodyguard |
Video Games
L2A2 Hand Grenade
A variant of the M26 used by the British military, prior to the adoption of the L109 hand grenade. Aside from the markings, the other distinguishing feature is the fuze design, which is notably different from that of its American counterpart.
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Warriors | Hing-Yin Kam | Wong Han aka Cock | 1986 | |
| Wai-Man Chan | Roy Lee aka Tiger | |||
| Hiroyuki Sanada | Kenji Yamamoto |
Television
| Title/Episode | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soldier Soldier | British Army soldiers | 1991-1997 |
Video Games
| Game Title | Appears as | Mods | Notation | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Reality: Falklands | 2012 | |||
| Killing Floor | Explosions can be "stacked" | 2009 | ||
| IGI 2: Covert Strike | 2003 | |||
| Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix | 2002 | |||
| Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror | HE Grenade | 2002 | ||
| Project IGI: I'm Going In | 2000 |
Anime
| Title | Character | Note | Air Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Dream Hunter Rem: Massacre in the Phantasmic Labyrinth | is seen in the Geppetto base | 1992 |