• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

Dad's Ford GPW jeep .. Spring 1947.. Solln district, Munchen

msgjd

Well-known member
1,112
3,414
113
Location
upstate ny
"Public Relations Patrol," southern outskirts of Munich , Solln..

He and another fella were accompanying a Willys MB crew distributing Ritz crackers .. (see my Willys MB post in this forum) .. His jeep has a white cloth concealing many boxes of crackers and whatnot, like the other jeep sitting ahead of him pictured in that previous post with the kids..

Often this was not an official act, they took it upon themselves to share their collected food stashes with displaced kids in the area away from the city itself.. He had said occasionally there were organized efforts to help the citizenry, including truck companies that would haul crops, food, and supplies for farmers, hamlets, and larger towns.

He had said this jeep was a Ford.. He also had said they had some 4-wheel steers in the RTO and DTO motor pools which "were very interesting to park" and "downright scary" at speed.. This is not one of those ..

He was a T/4 at time of pic and made a comment on back of the picture he had to keep his hair buzzed now... WW2 Tech/4 aka TechSgt is equivalent to modern Spec-5 , whereas a WW2 T/5-Tech/5 is same as modern Spec-4 .. Make sense? Clear as mud..

As seen in many of his pics, they usually wore an Ike Jacket without rank when outside the garrison... In secure areas or on leave or in large groups many of them had another Ike jacket with rank to wear.. There are no pics of when he was with the Cav in early 1945 prior being retained for post-war occupation.. Eventually when the US Constabulary was created, his early 1946 pics show him wearing the "Circle C" constab patch, apparently with the 2nd Constab Bde due to his AO..

But as you see in this pic, all his late-'46-'48 pictures show him (and most his pals) having an "ETO-Advanced Base" patch on their Ike jackets .. Their particular patches were German made and had a more-elaborate golden-yellow design where the chains are, perhaps larger-linked chains or wider golden-yellow lightning bolts than seen on the attached patch pic..

In this pic he was with his final unit, "HQ & Supply Troop" , 9th Tranport Regt (or 9th Traffic Regt?) There is conflicting online info on what the "9TRG" on his jeep and truck bumpers mean. He worked out of Garmisch as well as Munchen and outlaying areas, and ran the roads in between


20240223_160551.jpg

6f92a81fb4bbff3fe750a4b614f1cfc6-4016573420.pngs-l640-3737149868.jpg
 
Last edited:

msgjd

Well-known member
1,112
3,414
113
Location
upstate ny
This was still a dangerous time for Americans in Germany. There were more than a few G.I. murdered, robbed, beaten or harassed, for several years after the war. Not everyone was happy with the "Liberators".
Dad mentioned there were sniper and "potshot" incidents for at least two years after the surrender , although far and few between.. But also, the smarter guys surely didn't want to go anywhere by themselves due to the things on your aforementioned list, even by the late-40's ..

BTW, I found his discharge papers, he was there into 1948 , 3 years.. I had thought two years.. He had made T/4 (tech sgt) and apparently got too busy, or too tired, or ran out of "give a sh-t" since his only pics during 1948 were war bride weddings of his friends, several drunken "dinners," card games, and a few shots of places while on leave .. There are no pics of his trip home either, although his camera came back with him... I still have his camera and M1 sling
 
Last edited:

Guyfang

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
16,920
24,535
113
Location
Burgkunstadt, Germany
There is a web page I read, that lists all the incidents of violence against American soldiers after the war ended. ITS LONG. The first incident, happened about 8-9 klicks from my house here. And yes, it lasted until late 40's, early 50's.
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks