US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post your jeep photos, Pre or Post restoration. Bragging Photos etc. Also LIFE jeep photos.
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US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by 70th Division » Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:44 am

Hello,


Let's Find These Jeeps !!!!

In the interest of preserving US History, and a direct connection from the Battlefields of Gettysburg, The Wilderness, and all the Campaigns, and in Honor of all the US Civil War Veterans, which ended in U.S. Union Victory in 1865, for your jeep history files ........
these are incredible pictures of Union and Confederate veterans, long at Peace with each other, driving around in WW2 Jeeps, on US bases during WW2,
believe it or not !!
What Great Jeep history !!!!!!!!
The Blue and the Gray, like the 29th Division Patch !!!!!

I wonder if anyone has this jeep ??
That would make my day if I found that hood number on a Jeep !!!
U.S.A Number : 2055858

photo(91).JPG
photo(91).JPG (175.33 KiB) Viewed 6196 times
Union Civil War Veterans :
Frank Bissell and James A. Hard ( Both of the US Army, U.S.A.)
Rochester, NY area ? 1942
James Hard in the back seat was at the Battle of Bull Run !!!! Among other famous battles !



photo(92).JPG
photo(92).JPG (24.89 KiB) Viewed 6197 times
3 Civil War Veterans at Fort Olglethorpe, Georgia during WW2
C.S.A. Confederate Veterans , Southern Army (C.S.A.)
USA Number 2059419 - S
Note driver has big Cigar !

Note CCKW's in the background.
Vacuum windshield wiper as well.

For further research and info, google "Civil War Veteran in a Jeep "

There is a film I saw of Civil War Troops riding in Jeeps, years ago.



Best Regards,

Raymond
Last edited by 70th Division on Sun Aug 20, 2017 9:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by 70th Division » Fri Aug 18, 2017 10:17 pm

Hello,

The continuity of History,
and the March of Time really is incredible !
I was watching a TV show recently, that had actual photographs of several of George Washington's
Continental Soldiers from the American Revolution , well into the 1800's.
The Union and Southern veterans made peace with each other after the war for a lifelong friendship.
It occurred after WW2 as well.

We persevere to preserve History, and the memory of so many we have known, with the rescuing of our long forgotten vehicles,
securing them, and restoring them for our use, and for future generations.
We should never forget our collective history and the price paid for liberty and freedom !

History is my favorite subject, and I really enjoy finding vehicles, and reminiscing with our WW2 Veterans !!

Most important to me, my beloved father was a WW2 Veteran, and I have been so Blessed that I have spent my entire life around
WW2 Veterans , Thanks to my Dad and all his WW2 buddies !!

Here is a little write up of my some of father's WW2 experiences in the 70th Infantry Division.
The 70th entered combat as task Force Herren, as the rest of the division was still on the way from America.
They were "attached" to the 45th Division at this time who later got hit terribly at nearby Reipertsweiller 8 days later.
The 70th's Task Force Herren battled it out at Phillipsburg, Baerenthal, and Wingen sur Moder as their first baptism of fire.
The 14th Armored was there as armored support, but were hit hard along with the70th's infantry regiments.
The 275th Regiment was in the Alsace- Lorraine region , in the small village of Phillipsburg .
My father and his fellow D Company machine gunner Jack, were in D Company of the 275th Regiment.
Both had jeeps and trailers for their dash mounted Browning water cooled machine guns.
Their machine gun section, 2 squads, were sent out, on their own, to locate the entire B Company, that HQ had contact was lost with,
in the low Vosges Mountains around Phillipsburg, France on January 3, 1945.
Well they rode their jeeps down the icy snow covered road towards Mombach, taking on Germans all the way.
They opened fire on and captured a pillbox on the side of the road, losing some men after a small counter attack.
The jeeps were taking rifle fire, as they darted up the logging road, and were driven up into the woods on a logging trail and parked.
They dismounted the guns and moved forward. they came to a large group of German's at a second larger bunker area.
They approached under early morning darkness, and opened up with the guns, the Germans were in the open, they captured around 40 to 45 Germans and had 2 men take them back through Phillipsbourg to Niederbronn.
(B Company they were sent to find and support was already wiped out around the Falkenburg castle ruins.)
They were getting attacked and shelled by more and more German troops. large numbers, against 2 squads, that were being reduced all day.
My father and Jack kept firing and resetting the guns.
They were vastly out numbered, and even worse ran out of ammo belts for their guns.
Snipers were picking them off, mortars dropping on them, as well as artillery from distant positions.
My fathers assistant gunner died of wounds there, he bandaged him up but it was bad, as did Jack's assistant gunner.
Their M1 Garand armed riflemen of their squad were being lost as well.
As the battle wore on in the bitter cold and snow, my dad had 3 .45 rounds left. His BMG was frozen solid and could not be broken down
as was the plan when about to be captured.
He managed to shoot a sniper clad in white, with one shot, with the help of a tree he put the barrel against to line up the 45,
he couldn't believe he got him, who tumbled down the hill out of the trees, and crawled off the edge of the crossroad in the forest.
The 2 last rounds went into the side plate of the Browning MG in an attempt to destroy it.
He broke down his 45 and tossed it and his holster into the trees and snow.
Then they tried to get out of the area. Jack got hit in the head with shrapnel and was knocked out. Steel helmet worked but had a hole in it !
They were however, totally surrounded, their jeeps were already captured to their rear, and they were well outnumbered and were captured.
They put my father's assistant gunner and and 2 wounded German's, that they patched up earlier, in a captured chaplain's jeep
the German's drove up in. The German's appreciated that they had taken care of their troops and that they told them were to find
them in the snow packed woods ) both assistant gunners and many others of the squad are buried at Saint Avold National Cemetery in France today.
All the officers of 275th HQ, that sent them out, had been killed by an 88 shell that went
into a small opening in the basement wall the stone barn they were located in, that was already zeroed in by the Germans.
They were marched for countless miles then tight packed into 40 and 8 boxcars, with no water or medical treatment for the wounded.
Eventually they found themselves in the Frankfurt HBF rail yard, when the B-17's came over and carpet bombed the train station
and marshaling yards. After the planes were gone, the Germans came up from bomb shelters, and clang, clang, were working on fixing the rails.
Luckily, they were a center train of 3 parked there next to each other. The blasts blew off an upper hatch of the boxcar, and my father was able to reach out and break an icicle off for water and pass it around. They ended up near Dresden, at Stalag 4B, then 5A, Lillienstein Lager.

(Other's ended up in the Berga, Death Camp. (Norm and Tony) Jewish prisoners and suspected Jewish POWS were segregated,
Tony was Hispanic, and ended up there too. God took care of them as they both survived and made it home)

The camp life was hard labor and little food, but they got a little sawdust bread, made with "wood flower", aka sawdust,
and potato soup with 1 potato cut up for the entire hut.
Hearing their stories of combat and survival, and surviving a POW labor camp, and making it home.
My father was 6' tall and was down to 90 pounds via starvation, covered in lice and bugs, but thanks to a Czech woman who took him in
and fed him sour goat milk pancakes, she helped him to recover and stay alive. She had a goat in a closet, the Russians left her,
and her goat alone because she was taking care of my father. They took all the furniture from the few neighbor's houses and burned it all in the front yards.
The US POWs, walking skeletons, were strung out all over the place after the Germans took off, and abandoned the POW column, then the Russians started strafing the prisoners and then dropping distant artillery on them along the Elbe River southeast of Dresden near the Czech border.
One POW was hit, they stayed with him to the end , but couldn't do anything to save him.
He had two young twin daughters he so loved.
Later they buried him there at a church yard.
They ate a dead horse they found blasted in the street, cooked in an old filthy paint bucket, it made them even sicker than they were.
The fellow 70th Division machine gunner captured with my father , Jack, told me that the Russians eventually caught up to them, and they showed him the Ford logo on the back of a Ford GP. They told him that that jeep was at the Battle of Stalingrad.

Later in the small village of Waltersdorf, on the Elbe, other well armed Russians from the far east,
they hung the mayor of Waltersdorf and his wife in their front yard, and took the daughter. Such a crime against the German civilians,
not by all the Russians by any measure, but he said the nasty ones appeared to be from Asiatic Russia.
A very bad situation, Jack remembers the mayor and family well.
Later a German family who took him in, to care for him there, gave him a luger for personal protection, and he almost had to use it on
a "Russian" who decided he wanted to take the woman away and wanted the gun and was threatening him.
Fortunately a Russian officer saw what was going on and took care of the issue.

My father was picked up by two Soviet soldiers who had a track bulldozer pulling a huge cannon. They gave him a ride on it to a rail head .
I still have the Russian star pin they gave him, he was well taken care of by those 2 Russian soldiers, who told him they were from a Ukraine division.
They were an old man and a young boy.

He was eventually air evacuated out of Pilsen, Czechoslovakia , once he made it there,
on C-47's , he said he felt sorry for the air crews, as the POWS all had dysentery and it was a mess !
He told me of taking GI's that starved to death in the camp, to a German church yard near the camp,
and digging muddy holes, in the spring thaw, and wrapping their bodies in old newspapers, and burying them.
He said that so bothered him, he had to get back to America, to his parents and family, which kept him going, as he didn't want
to end up in a muddy hole, and have his parents never know what happened to him.

They loved life, and loved this country,
Enjoyed every day, and never complained about things .
They had seen the worst possible, and lived through it.
They were, and are today, Grateful, for making it through and coming home, when so many paid the ultimate price.

As hard as their experience was, many veterans went back to France starting in the late in the 70's , and met up with their former enemies.
It all started by coincidence, at Phillipsburg , at Fritz's barn, where the HQ officers were killed in January,1945, the younger brother of Capt. Lassiter, who was lost there, was approached by a family member of a German soldier lost their, the very same German's that they fought against those many years before.
They were looking for answers too, and that set off the contact with each other.
It was a remarkable meeting, and the Veterans of the 70th Division became lifelong friends with their German former 6th Mountain Division enemies.
This friendship lasts to this day, and with the the families and children, and grandchildren of each side, now true friends.

Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they won the war, and have secured the Peace by making true friends with former enemies.

Like was done between the Union and Southern Veterans from the Civil War,
former bitter enemies, becoming lifelong friends, securing the Peace for all and future generations, as long as they can persevere to protect it !

That is what this is all about ! This is what should be taught today to the youth of today !

They Greatest Generation are a very special generation of people, and we hope to meet them all again :D :D :D

Best Regards,

Ray Brown

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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by JIMN » Sun Aug 20, 2017 6:01 pm

Wow. Great story!
Email sent about the photos.
1941 Ford GP, 1944 Willys MB, 1943 Bantam T3

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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by Michael O. » Sun Sep 10, 2017 8:11 am

Great story...thanks for sharing! It's through stories like this that their memory lives on and experiences are not forgotten.

The hood number of the jeep the Union soldiers are in isn't too far off the estimated hood number for my Feb '42 GPW.
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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by Rpm9 » Tue Sep 26, 2017 5:51 pm

RIP all soldiers of the bloodiest war in US history. I couldn't imagine growing up having a horse as luxury transportation, relying on muzzle loaders in battle then living long enough to see a motorized army and air force. These pics are awesome, thanks for sharing! Connects generations.

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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by twinflyer17 » Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:50 am

This is really neat to see. Crazy to think about, though...it's hard to imagine what those guys experienced in their lifetime.
Sean

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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by Mark Jesic » Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:54 am

Great story, great photos, thanks for posting.

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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by Joe Gopan » Fri Dec 08, 2017 7:21 am

The last surviving Civil War Union Soldier was named Albert Woolson, he lived to be 109. He passed away in 1956.
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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by Hammerhead » Wed Feb 07, 2018 7:38 am

Raymond, Thanks for posting those great pictures! I had to chuckle!
Also thanks for posting the detailed story of your Father's Service. I too had a WWII Father and was previliged to grow up at a time that many of my teachers were WWII Veterans. My Boy Scout Leader and two asst. Leaders were WWII Veteran's as was out Shooting Merit Badge instructor. What great mentors they were.
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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by 70th Division » Sun Apr 12, 2020 9:57 am

Hello,

Since we are all in quarantine, I thought I would bump this post, to see if
someone has actually found or might have the Civil War Jeeps :D :D :D
At least more will be aware of the USA numbers, and keep a watch out for them !!

Happy Easter to all, and God Bless us all, and all those who have come
before us, and will come after us !

Stay safe and healthy, and work on those Jeeps :D :D :D


Best Regards,
Ray

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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by 70th Division » Sun Sep 04, 2022 7:27 am

Hello,

In case new G members hadn't seen these great pictures,
I wanted to bring this post back, to see if anyone has found this Jeep that the Union Civil War Veterans were driving ?
Or the Confederate veterans' jeep ?

That would be a find of the century for me or any G member to find !!


I wonder if the serial number can be determined from the USA hood number, if it is a GPW ?
The Union Jeep looks like it has a Firestone tire on it, thus a GPW ?
Maybe someone could ask Tom W if he knows a serial number ?
Both Jeeps are early with the rubber steering wheels, so 1942, I would imagine.

We have to keep history alive, and looking for a jeep with this USA number would be a great discovery when found :D !!

The Union jeep could be out there, and it could be anywhere in the world , but maybe in New York region ?

Happy Jeep Hunting :D :D :D :D !!!

Best Regards,
Ray

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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by Wooly15 » Tue Sep 13, 2022 4:47 am

This also goes to show.....it really wasn't all that long ago.....


*Rhyme not intended :lol:

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Re: US Civil War Vets Driving MB/GPW !!!

Post by AFM38A1 » Sat Oct 01, 2022 5:43 pm

As a kid circa 1968, my father was transferred to the Air Base in Duluth, Minnesota.

As previously mentioned, the last Civil War veteran died there in 1956.
When we were studying the war, a teacher mentioned that when he was a student in town, they'd send the old guy around to all the schools to give talks so the children could say they saw and heard him.

So, I didn't see him, but a teacher did.
Any vets around in WWII would have been awfully old to be driving.
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