A surgical stapling device comprising:a body portion having a longitudinal axis, a proximal portion and a distal portionan alignment pin movable between a retracted position and an advanced positiona cartridge having a plurality of staple pushers to eject staples and an opening to slidably receive the alignment pinan anvil assembly having an opening for passage of the alignment pin and having pockets with staple forming surfaces to form staples ejected from the cartridgea trigger for approximating the cartridge and anvil assembly anda manually actuated member operatively associated with the alignment pin, the manually actuated member advancing the alignment pin from the retracted position to the advanced position independently of the trigger, wherein actuation of the trigger automatically advances the alignment pin from the retracted position to the advanced position when the alignment pin has not previously been advanced by the manually actuated member.
