From: International Movie Services (ims@telus.net)
Date: Sun Feb 20 2005 - 00:14:01 PST
We have a 1987 Dodge minivan painted at the factory shiny OD (made in
Canada1); US Navy serial number still on the doors and the tailgate;
Battalion numbers on the bumpers and the yellow seabee stencil on the front
doors below the vehicle numbers. Has anyone ever seen another?
Cheers!
Ian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bones" <mrbones@ixks.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2005 10:22 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] Deuce Color?
> 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
>
>
>
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