True or not

[retired wrench]

Ahab once the big buyers got them home and divided then they sold them to individuals at a huge profit.

 

[Another Ahab]

Ahab once the big buyers got them home and divided then they sold them to individuals at a huge profit.[/QUOTE]

And so the individual bought them twice:

- First as the taxpayer (who paid for them in the first place).

- And then as the private buyer getting sucker-punched by the big buyers.

Go figure.

 

[SETOYOTA]

I have 2 that were shipped back. But not by the military

 

[retired wrench]

I know of one that traveled around on a ship for a while till someone forgot you drive on the left in England.

 

[Hal O'Peridol]

Those U.S. Jeeps couldn't be beat. Just how versatile was the old Willys JEEP?

Here's one of the comments to me from a cousin (after questioning if anyone knew where it came from):

I also remember the power take off being used to saw lumber out behind the raspberries. It was also used at the hog slaughtering days to hoist up the hogs for butchering and bleeding, but I can’t remember how it was applied for this task.

Of course the question is "did they ship back?", but this is just offered as a sidebar to the main topic (kind of a savory to the main course). OK, back to the dinner table….


​

If it had a PTO setup it more than likely was a civilian CJ-2a. Look almost exactly like an MB except for a few things. Jeep and other companies also sold sawmills to be powered by the CJ-2a.

 

[Jeepsinker]

Not just sawmills, there were a lot of other attachments like augers and tillers and such. Some of those implements are very rare and expensive now.

 

[m16ty]

My uncle was in Vietnam and was there when we pulled out. He personally witnessed them dumping all kinds of vehicles and helicopters off the side of the ships coming home. What he didn't understand is why they went through the trouble to load all that stuff if they were just going to dump it overboard. I guess maybe it was to keep the North Vietnamese from getting their hands on it.

It didn't happen on his ship but other ships that were taking evacuees would land a Huey, unload the people, and push the helicopter overboard to make room for other helicopters landing with people trying to get out of there.

 

[cbear]

Just a WAG, but maybe standing units brought their stuff back, but units that were mustered up for added strength in WW2 abandoned their equipment.

 

[tankdriver]

My Uncles last job in WW2, in the Pacific, was starting NEW Shermans and running them off into the ocean. He asked his Captain why he was doing that. He was told "We can build more tanks, our #1 thing now is to get everybody home."

 

[Rmtaunton]

 

[Another Ahab]

My Uncles last job in WW2, in the Pacific, was starting NEW Shermans and running them off into the ocean. He asked his Captain why he was doing that. He was told "We can build more tanks, our #1 thing now is to get everybody home."

One thing for sure:

- They'd make a killer anchor for a crab pot.

 

[clinto]

http://wwiijeepparts.com/Archives/WW2JeepsInCrates.html



View attachment 474852View attachment 474853View attachment 474854

Thank you for posting that. I swear, every time I drive the Jeep somewhere I have to hear this story.

 

[Chief_919]

There were some shipped back, but it was a tiny percentage of those that left the country.

A lot depended on the units they were assigned to. Units that ceased to exist overseas and sent everybody home left everything. a lot of ETO units were sent stateside enroute to the Pacific when Germany surrendered and much of their equipment was sent back with them, then they never made it over before the Japanese surrendered.

Some units stayed on occupation duty and vehicles they had sometimes were shipped back as units rotated.

 

[SCSG-G4]

There were some shipped back, but it was a tiny percentage of those that left the country.

A lot depended on the units they were assigned to. Units that ceased to exist overseas and sent everybody home left everything. a lot of ETO units were sent stateside enroute to the Pacific when Germany surrendered and much of their equipment was sent back with them, then they never made it over before the Japanese surrendered.

Some units stayed on occupation duty and vehicles they had sometimes were shipped back as units rotated.

My father had a story about the ETO soldiers who only got as far as Ft. Dix. He took over a company at Dix in late 1946 and found he had over 300 Garands in the arms room, when he had only signed for 168. The extras were from ETO soldiers who got out of the army after VJ Day. And, no, he didn't keep any of the extras (to my dismay)!

 

[bigbe5678]

My Father was in the Combat Engineer battalion in Korea and I remember him saying a lot of the trucks and dozers where from WW2. I also remember a buddy of mine who was a load master on a C130 out of Vietnam ran into engine trouble over China Sea and had to drop a new bull dozer He said it made a big splash

 

[GPWWLA]

My '41 MB has a maintenance tag tacked to the firewall from a German corporation (GMBH). Best I can figure is it was a German version of WOF and sold post war. How it ended up here I'll never know.

Guy I bought it from had a story all cooked up about how it was captured, tagged, somehow recaptured by the Allies, and sent back stateside. Somehow I have trouble buying that.

 

[SETOYOTA]

Thank you for posting that. I swear, every time I drive the Jeep somewhere I have to hear this story.

The color picture was built by the GA MVPA for a national convention. No one has ever found a jeep in the crate other than at the bottom of the ocean. Most jeeps were not crated for shipment just stacked.