My CCKW markings

[KAE]

Hi all, I found this markings on my cckw, maybe someone knows what it is.
Thanks in advance!

Goran

[Cat Man]

Hello Goran,

Nice mystery you have. The clue at the lower part of the bumper tells me

"63 I" is 63rd Infantry Division. The 63 Inf Div arrived in France in Dec 1944. And participated in the drive to the Rhine and into Germany in 1945. The shoulder patch is a green tear drop shape with a red flame raising up and has a yellow dagger with a red (blood) tip in the center.

The second part of the bumper marking looks like "I" and then 8?2??
In the order of battle, the 63rd Infantry Div included the 862nd Field Artillary Battalion. A 105 MM towed howitzer group. So that would read:
"862 FA" Possibly the marking on your truck 63 - I - 862 FA"

I can read ??? ? ORD on the upper line. ORD is the abbreviation for Ordnance. The 63 Div also included the 763rd Ordnance Light Maintenance Company. The "SCR" in the second line is a mystery.

But she was definatly in the 63rd Infanty at one time and that was a WWII combat Infantry unit.

Let us know if you find anything on the other end of the front bumper and do the same with the rear bumperettes.

You are a lucky collector! We don't often get to confirm our truck history. I can send more information on the 63rd Division in WWII if you want.

Great job. Send us more pictures.

Cat Man

[KAE]

Thank you Cat Man!

I have spent 2 hours for cleaning 2 cm2 of the bumper, I don´t want to miss chance to find out what is under 3 layers of green colors before sand blasting

I will try on the other sides find something more!
Feel free to send more info on the 63rd Division!

Thanks in advance,
Regards!

[KAE]

I have found this sign on the rear doors of my another cckw, what this coud be?





Thanks!
Regards

[John V Cliche]

I do not doubt the accuracy of Cat Man's post,....but... shouldn't the WW2 markings be displayed in a larger size , different font, and single lined instead
At least according to the "markings manual "
The pictured markings look like a post war stencil in my opinion
But they probably reflect the info of the "original" markings.

Or quite possibly I'm waaayyyy of base again

John

[Canadian Gunner]

I have to agree with John on this one. I suspect what you have found is a post war shipping stencil or cataloguing stencil... I've seen many similar ones in 33 years of service.

Most stencil cutters (the ones with the wheel on top) use the same symbol for "1" and "I".

Thus your number could be 63-I or more likely, 63-1 which could be "January 1963" as much as anything else.

"SCR" rings a bell in reference to a Signals Corps code of some kind.

Good luck with the research... its part of the fun!

Cheers!

Mike

[Cat Man]

John and Mike make good points. A "normal" unit marking would usually be a single line and larger letters about 4 inch tall. When I looked over the order of battle list I looked for units that had numbers that went with the 63rd Div.

I still hold out hope for 63rd Infantry Division. The lower line does not look right for a date. I forgot that the truck had a van body until Goran added more photo's. SCR is Signal Corp Radio as in "SCR 300" etc. There were Artillery repair van like this and radio vans?? The vehicles are the general responsability of the Ordnance Corp. So take your pick.

So I could see this as a vehicle identification stencil in a depot. But not enough data for a shipment stencil.

Goran, any other information inside or outside the van body. Can you tell what equipment in contained?

Keep sanding - carefully

Cheers

Cat Man