The GMC CCKW

When you have no Gas Can in your bracket. Better yet, what if your CCKW has no bracket for the gas can? Many did not. Did the Red Ball Express carry spare Water Buckets to issue with Gas Cans?
Joel

Water buckets are a must item on a CCKW. Even if you have to hang them from the pintle hook to demonstrate you have one. It's the black tie on the tux for an old Army truck.

Good Bullseye for a Bazooka. Think about it, it makes for a good aiming point, I was a natural with a 3.5. I bet it was pretty hot exiting a CCKW with a flaming GI Can.
Joel

That's why you need a water bucket.
To fight the fire in your truck.

I sort of relate the Water Bucket to that Charles Schultz Comic Character that is always dragging the blanket around.
Joel

Hi guys.

What is the fascination about the bucket on this forum....................am I missing something

I don't know, I never had one, and there is no real official information in WWII TMs on wheeled/Tracked Vehicles to base this manner of display on. It just caught on, and is now official WWII vehicle jewelry the world over. Seems that everyone but me just has to have one. No problem, I enjoy the hobby as much as anyone. It is like abstract art, and has to be interpreted, and it is plain that I haven't related to it. My CCKW would be easy to spot in a show-no ear rings
Joel

Mentioning water bucket to Joel is like waving a red flag at a bull. Gets their dander up.

My 'water bucket' is HQ

I will appologize to anyone who has their HMV marked as belonging to HQ

I suppose 101 and 82 AB come in 2nd for me.

I believe in being a bit creative and marking my HMVs for some group that was not as recognized like the 101/82nd

All my HMVs that apply (Bomb Truck need not apply) are labeled as belonging to the 291st Combat Engineers. These are the guys that stayed behind during the Battle of the Bulge to blow up bridges when everyone else was running for Antwerp! They also helped build the longest M2 Treadway bridge up to that time at Remargen while the Germans were trying their damdest to blow it up.

I actually got to talk to Col David Pergin of the 291st this past spring and thanked him and his men for what they had done and told him that all my HMVs (that apply) were 291st. I sent him a pix and he was very happy. So was I!!!!


Steve AKA Dr Deuce

It is just a joke thing over the water buckets. Joel does not like them but others do.
Some people like their trucks the way it rolled out of the factory and some of us , who have beat up combat class trucks, like to decorate them with all kinds of web gear and anything else that might fit our fancy.
It is just a personal preference.

How about if we all chip in some money so we can get Joel some form of bucket counseling ...........

I have a lot of WW2 gear but I'm proud to say no bucket!! nor do I have a bit of rope wrapped around the front bumper on any of my vehicles!

I agree with the Dr.about unit markings,to see the many restored trucks with airborne markings anyone would think the US army in the ETO consisted solely of the 82nd and 101st!! lets see more laundry Co's,engineer Bn's etc etc represented,they all did vital work.

Probably in the ETO one would not have found many airborne markings on heavy trucks as these were not exactly airborne equipment in 1944 Not to say that the 101 and 82nd did not have access to the trucks, but the heavy trucks were assigned to supply and transportation, and when troops were needed to be hauled, they were provided with transportation. One of the few photos I have seen of a 101 truck from WWII had engineer markings on the bumper. Sadly the Airborne units have been glamorized in tv, movies and books just as the fighter pilots were glamorized with the Army Air Corps, but you have never seen a movie just about Air Cargo Command or Troop Carrier Command.
Thanks to Steohen Spielberg and Band of Brothers we tend to base a lot of our current WWII history on the 506th PIR and these other hundreds of units get left out. Oh, I proudly own a water bucket.

This is a brief addendum to my last post. When I used to fly in the CAF the San Antonio wing had a Lockheed Cargo plane that I occassionaly flew right seat in to airshows. Now the Lockheed is not the most glamorous of air planes around so really never garnered a lot of attention yet it was a rather scarce WWII airplane. We sould clean her up after arriving at the airport, wipe up the oil drips from the big radial engines and get her ready for inspection from our many admiring airshow fans. Ha Ha, as soon as they fans found out that it did not have guns or carry bombs they would walk away looking for the fighting aircraft. One time we did not get a single dollar in our donation box. I put in a dollar in as we were packing up to leave as seed money for the next trip.
One time at an airshow in Cleveland, Hank Van Hook, the pilot was asked if the aircraft had any guns and he answered in the affirmative and proudly showed the amazed visitor his plastic water pistol he was wearing in a shoulder holster he had on his flight suit. We did not get a donation from that guy either.

Does the Canvas water bucket need to be hung from the Pintle hook and partly filled with water or bottles/cans of pop etc or can the bucket be strapped flat on the outside of the jerry can for example , or are there other approved display methods say like,hanging from front tow hooks ..... Just want to have the Proper canvas bucket etiquette

I have always strapped my bucket under the gas can strap on the passenger side of the truck. With an open cab truck this is ieasy to do as one to two cans are easily carried on the running boards. It is a decorative thing, like hanging a map case in the cab. Where ever you want to put it or even if you have one. Personal choice.

Ok then the other question is Size .Is it appropriate to display/hang a smaller slimer one gallon canvas bucket from a CCKW's pintle hook or the more manly and portly five gallon verity ? both of which I own the later dated 1918

Most I have seen have been the smaller buckets. , however again this is at your pleasure. There is no set of rule when dressing u0p your truck. The long posts between the previous poster Joel and myself was due to the fact that he felt that there should be no dressing up as he was into drive out of the factory type restorations and my truck has the dents and dings of many years of use. ssIt is a personal call and no one is right or wrong on this.

If its any help, in the Canadian army anyone who hangs his bucket from the various hooks and dingleberries on his truck deserves one of two normal outcomes: it gets stolen (we tend to lock all the tools and bits and bobs in a tool box to avoid midnight requisition; or it gets full of mud and crap and you spend more time cleaning it out than it would have taken to get it (clean) from the toolbox and fill it!

As for markings, all my vehs get marked to various artillery units... can't for the life of me figure out why!

Cheers! Mike

Sorry Steve....... Not changing my CCKW's unit ID markings.

You can carry alot of grenades in a canvas water bucket......