M26 hand grenade

M26 High-Explosive Fragmentation hand grenade

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M61 High-Explosive Fragmentation hand grenade, improved version of the M26

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 II Pineapple grenades.

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 II "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 II 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 II 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 has appeared in the following films and television series used by the following actors:

M26 Hand Grenade

Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
The Heat	Sandra Bullock	FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn		2013
Battleground				2012
Get the Gringo				2012
Rise of the Zombies	LeVar Burton	Dr. Dan Halpern		2012
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
The Siege		Terrorist		1998
Free Money	Thomas Haden Church	Larry		1998
Tomorrow Never Dies			Used as part of IED	1997
Forrest Gump	Gary Sinise	2nd Lt. Dan Taylor		1994
		U.S. Army soldiers
Hard Boiled	Chow Yun-Fat	Tequila Yuen		1992
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
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

Anime

Title	Character	Note	Air Date
Amazing Nurse Nanako	Soldier		1999
Gunslinger Girl	Enrico Beldini		2003
Elfen Lied	Sato		2004
Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino	Franco		2008
	Mob Bodyguard

Video Games

Game Title	Appears as	Mods	Notation	Release Date
Art of Murder: The Secret Files			Non-playable	2010
Crysis		Without pins or spoons		2007
Operation Flashpoint				2001
Grand Theft Auto IV		With detonation warning tone		2008
Ghost Recon	As the "FRAG"			2001
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter		M61		2006
007: The World Is Not Enough	As the "Fragmentation Grenade"			2000
	As the "Stun Grenade"	flash-bang instead of HE-Frag	With blue body
Max Payne				2001
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames				2008
7.62 High Calibre			M61	2008
Counter-Strike: Source				2004
Black				2006
Resident Evil 5			not usable	2009
Battle: Los Angeles				2011
WWII G.I.		As the "Grenade"	Becomes Mk 2 Hand Grenade when picked up	1999
War Inc. Battlezone				2011
Rogue Warrior				2009
Project Reality: Vietnam			M61 version	2012
Far Cry 3				2012
Arctic Combat				2012
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2				2013
Far Cry 4				2014

L2A2 Hand Grenade

L2A2 High-Explosive Fragmentation hand grenade (Note different fuze design)

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.

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