Author Archives: Digby Hand

About Digby Hand

The six foot two inch tall Digby Hand was a well known rifleman of his time, made famous in the book The Old China Hands, by Charles Finney. As a corporal in E Company of the United States 15th Infantry Regiment in China stationed in the late 1920s Hand was renowned for his skill with the Springfield rifle. Hand, a native of Arkansas, joined the 15th because his grandfather, who rode with Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry, fought against the 15th at Battle of Shiloh and said that ‘There haint but one Yankee outfit in this whole world I’d let my grandson jine with, and that’s teh15th Infantry.’ His name and spirit of excellence in marksmanship is kept alive by the Corporal Digby Hand Schützenverein.