It seems to upset folks when I post history of military vehicles, I do hope
this one will not bring too many flames for my "new improved" shields to
handle
To relieve stress on folks that do not care about history perhaps you that
want to see military vehicle history would send me a note off line and I
will only send history only to folks that care about what made history.
Everette
Here is post about "jeeps" -- according to my source
February 12
1953 Willys-Overland's 50th Anniversary
The Willys-Overland Company, which brought America the Jeep, celebrated its
golden anniversary. The original design for an all-terrain troop transport
vehicle--featuring four-wheel drive, masked fender-mount headlights, and a
rifle rack under the dash--was submitted to the U.S. Armed Forces by the
American Bantam Car Company in 1939. The Army loved Bantam's design, but the
production contract was ultimately given to Willys-Overland on the basis of
its similar design and superior production capabilities. Mass production of
the Willys Jeep began after the U.S. declaration of war in 1941. By 1945,
600,000 Jeeps had rolled off the assembly lines and onto battlefields in
Asia, Africa, and Europe. The name "Jeep" is supposedly derived from the
Army's request to car manufacturers to develop a "General Purpose" vehicle.
"Gee Pee" turned to "Jeep" somewhere along the battle lines. The Willys Jeep
became a cultural icon in the U.S. during World War II, as images of G.I.s
in Gee Pees liberating Europe saturated the newsreels in movie theaters
across the country. Unlike the Hummer of recent years, the Jeep was not a
symbol of technological superiority but rather of the courage of the
American spirit, a symbol cartoonist Bill Mauldin captured when he drew a
weeping soldier firing a bullet into his broken down Willys Jeep. In 1945,
Willys-Overland introduced the first civilian Jeep vehicle, the CJ-2A.