Those of you who have received your latest
MVPA mags may have noticed a letter on page
61 "Mail Call' from Mr. Mark A. Carr.
I couldn't resist, so I called him this morning:
Despite working for Bank Of America for forty
years before retiring in 1981, Mr. Carr found time to serve in the U.S.
Armed Forces.
He was a Corporal in the CA National Guard
160th Infantry (despite being underage and still
in High School!).
Joined the regular army in 1939 and served in
Hawaii at Ft. Kamehameha. He said that in those days troops were moved
in big Federal 4wd trucks with axles that "clicked loudly" while
going around corners. That would be the 41st
(Coast Artillery?) Battery B.
The peacetime Army had such things as chrome-plated bayonets that
wouldn't cut a thing and "chrome-plated Model A engine" in an
open touring car that looked great on inspection
but wouldn't run at all!
June of '42 ended up at Port Angeles, Washington State during the big
Japanese
West-Coast-Attack scare. Again with a Coast
Artillery unit, this time the 52nd, Battery X.
Went to Offiicer Candidate School. Then Officer Motor Transport course
at Ft. Benning.
Korea called and he went.
He says that Hawaii had Marmon-Herrington
4wd conversions of late 30's Ford pickups used
in the service.
All in all, a great guy and a great story to tell.
And don't forget those cool '35 Chevies from
the postcard...
And BTW, has everyone on this list committed
to paper THEIR military/military vehicle stories?
Thanks, Don Kenyon
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:31 PDT