Posted by Gordon on February 17, 2000 at 13:33:17:
In Reply to: Military Service for PW's posted by Jim C. on February 16, 2000 at 21:28:37:
Some quick notes:
A lot of the hard cab Dodges you will see in wartime shots in British hands will be Canadian D8, D15, D60 trucks - look for British style wheels and right hand drive.
Much of the material in Norway was shipped direct from the US in the 1945-50 period. Although I've seen some early Dodges there most had never seen mainland Europe, although a few had European rebuild plates. When I looked through the acre or so of NOS Dodge spares near Oslo the crates were marked as shipped from the Rock Island Arsenal, 1945 to 1953.
Some trucks, like the VC's, were thought not to have been used outside the US, but it now appears they were rebuilt (mine in '43) and some were shipped to Australia. It seems that the US made an effort to recondition and dispose of early vehicles and those that were not produced in quantity and standardized.
Command Cars and Carryalls were USAAF favourites because they were so obviously senior staff transport that no Army personnel wanted to be driven in them near the sharp end, as it were.
Many 1/2 and 3/4 ton Ambulances were freed up from USAAF service and sent to the sharp end, being replaced by Austin K2 ambulances which were primitive (sorry, K2 owners) 4 x 2 canvas and wood affaris which were nevertheless quite adequate for running around on a flat airfield.
Gordon