From: Bones (mrbones@ixks.com)
Date: Sat Feb 19 2005 - 10:22:31 PST
Howdy Kenny,
Hope that things are well for you and yours down there in FL... I am still
eternally grateful for the CUCV -10 manual PDF that you were so kind as to
email me many moons ago.
For the time period that I was in the Seabees (1985-1993), ALL of our
vehicles in NMCB 5, RNMCB 15, NMCB 24 were painted the Vietnam era gloss /
semi-gloss dark OD Marine Corps color with yellow Seabee stencil and serial
number below it on the doors, horizontally-oriented red diamond-shaped
sticker with white battalion no. on front bumper passenger's side, rear
bumperette driver's side (called a "beep" sticker, if I recall correctly).
The vast majority of our rolling stock appeared to have last been painted
during the Vietnam era, as well. They were horrendously oxidized with the
gloss long gone. We quite frequently went and got trucks from the DRMS that
the Marines had driven until they were untenable to repair after they having
got them from the Army when they had oulived the Army's usefulness, and we
would make a truck from 2 or 3 DRMS hulks. SOP.
The vehicle serial number was sometimes alternately painted in black, but
the Seabee stencil was, with only one exception, invariably
yellow.(Exception: in Operation Desert Storm, all our vehs were overpainted
on the exterior with Sand CARC, all lettering and stencil was black, all
matte finish. Interior was still dark OD.) Also, when the CUCV era began,
some had matte black stencil and numbers on the doors.
The front bumper tips on all M35s and 5-tonners, outboard 12" or so were
also painted yellow, with an approximately 24-36" piece of re-bar welded
vertically to each one for corner identification when manuevering in tight
quarters. Most often, they had orange re-bar caps used on the tips of the
re-bar to prevent / reduce accidental impalement to hung-over Seabees doing
their morning vehicle inspection / prestart. :-) With or without the safety
orange re-bar caps on the corner markers, the top 6-12" of the re-bar was
painted yellow as well.
M715-series vehs, as I recall, had the corner re-bar markers as well. M880
series did not, nor did our CUCVs when they came along later in my tour.
When they started to arrive and replace the M715 series (called "weaps"
regardless of configuration except for ambulances), our CUCVs were delivered
in 383 CARC, some were left that way, with matte black stencil and serial
numbers, many were subsequently painted the USMC dark OD later, yellow
Seabee stencil and serial number. Yellow tow shackles and bumper tips
applied as well.
Front and rear towing shackles on all vehs were always painted the same
yellow color, as were rear bumperettes on the M-series quite often...
During my stay in the KTO, we somehow inherited (heh,heh) many HMMVs, which
grew artifically-weathered Seabee stencils and "serial numbers"overnight,
though they were not at all a part of our TOA :-). Hope the statute of
limitations permits me to reveal that... lol. After the hostilities ceased,
the Marine MPs came by, checked the serial numbers, and retrieved the HMMVs.
They seemed, to me, strangely accusatory, but in the end, no one was
arrested.
Remember the huge Iraqi supply convoy that our flyboys caught out on the
open road, bombed both ends of to prevent escape, then bombed to smithereens
like sitting ducks? Well, there were scads of nice Mercedes diesel cabover
cargo trucks, replete with AC and all. Strangest thing, within a few days,
(nights, actually) ;-), we had a fleet of Sand CARC Mercedes with black
Seabee stencils and "serial numbers" on the doors. It took us about 3-4
bombed Mercedes to make one useable truck. Whole lotta night runs with deuce
tractors pulling a lowboy trailer and a RT forklift for loading. They
remained with us until we left for CONUS, don't know of their eventual fate.
One ABSOLUTELY mandatory accesory for ANY Seabee vehicle is a set of wheel
chocks, 4X4" for lighter vehicles, 6X6" for deuces and up. Gloss yellow,
sometimes with red tips, hemp rope connecting the wood pieces. This was a
BIG thing with the Bees; failure to place your chocks if you left the veh
for even a nanosecond, or failure to remove them when driving off from a
parked position resulted in the offender wearing the chocks around their
neck all day long, a most unpleasant reminder of their transgression, both
physically, and for all the harrassment and ridicule one received from
fellow Seabees.
On deuces, the chocks were most often hung from the tarp tiedown loop on the
driver's side directly behind the cab while in motion... on deuce and 5-ton
dump trucks, they were hung from the tailgate lever located in a similar
area.
Hmm, let's see... what else?? Oh, yeah: on all gas-powered vehs, located in
the fuel filler area or on the fuel tank on our older deuces,(Yup we had gas
deuces still :-) yellow stencilling proclaimed MOGAS or MOGAS ONLY, same
same for DIESEL or DIESEL ONLY on the appropriate vehs.
Well, sorry for rambling, hope that this info is useful to you in what
appears to be a quest to restore an M35 as a Seabee truck. I am honored that
you remember us by doing this; few people even realize that we ever existed,
much less what we contributed to the war efforts for the past nearly 60
years.
Please send me pics as the project develops, or post them where I can enjoy
them, if you would be so kind. It would mean a lot to me.
I would be glad to clarify or elaborate on any of this info if you wish, but
I seem to already have made this novel-length, so I will sign off for now
and waste no more of your weekend.
My very best regards to you and yours,
T. "Bones" Morris
recovering BU2, USNMCB5, 15, & 24
"Seabees Can Do!"
Subject: [MV] Deuce Color?
> Does anybody lurking out there in cyberspace happen to know the correct
color
> used on Seabee trucks. Its dark, but not exactly sure what the numbers
are.
> Thanks,
> Kenny
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat May 07 2005 - 20:39:52 PDT