ww2 British Vehicle Markings

This is the slouch hat belonging to a relative of 387 Coy RASC.


QUOTE="Mary Cole, post: 923726, member: 66609"]Hi Michael, I do have a number if photos of dukw’s. Some are already on this site, but unfortunately, the names and numbers are not visible. The photo of Aberdeen was in March 45 at the crossing point 45 miles above Mandalay. 387 Coy were divided between this crossing, 2nd Division crossing point at Ngazun and, they supplied dukw’s to iv Corps crossing point near Pakokku, Bagan. I have the war diaries for both 44 and 45 and find them fascinating.[/QUOTE]

 

Hi Mary,

Thank you for posting the additional photos, and for the picture of the slouch hat. I am unfamiliar with badges, uniforms etc., so I looked it up a bit and apparently the Blue/Yellow/White square was indeed the standard RASC flash used on hats or helmets.

This means that three different sets of colours for RASC were used, depending on whether they were worn on a vehicle (square flash divided diagonally into Red and Green), a battledress (strip, Blue/Yellow vertical) or a hat/helmet (squarish flash, Blue/Yellow/White vertical)! The complexity of British Army traditions will never cease to amaze me!

Michel

 

Thank you for your input. As a civilian, it’s been quite difficult tracking what was going on and the markings on vehicles and helmets. Most of the time it’s like learning a foreign language. The joys of researching!
Here is a photo of my father (right of the Indian soldier) but, there are several pith helmets piled up. You can just make out three horizontal lines although it looks like the yellow has gotten pretty dirty. This would have probably been India as I believe those helmets were phased out by the end of 43 in favour of the slouch hat.

Many thanks

 

Hi Michel,

I think you are correct in that it looks like BARBAR ( Barbarian - butcher link ) as opposed to BARBER ( tradesman - butcher link ). If it is the latter (sp) then perhaps there is a HMA BAKER out there somewhere.

Cheers

Kevin

 

Hi Mary,

Thanks for posting the photo of ABERDEEN and these other photos. I have added ABERDEEN to the Vehicle Name and Census Number database VI and credited it to you.

In the second photo (387 Coy DUKW's, Chindwin River) can you read the census number on the side? It looks like, when enlarged, 284258(or 9). Again this is another census number that wasn't supposedly used ( 258957 - 340999 ). As has been said by Michel and others the markings and traditions of the British Army never fail to amaze.

Cheers

Kevin

 

Hi Kevin, I can’t make out the DUKW number either but, I’ve attached several pages of 387 Coy war diaries which do have a couple more DUKW numbers on them. One DUKW was blown off the sandbanks of the Chindwin and never recovered. You may be interested to know that my fathers Coy covered 32’000 water miles in December 44 alone as the the road from Kalewa to Shygein was impassable to most vehicles so, 387 towed makeshift rafts on a 24 hour service. I also wonder if the HMA Butcher is correct as I’ve attached a page of the war diary where it gives “Butcher” as the name of a Major in 387 Coy.

Best wishes, Mary

 

Hi Mary,

Thank you for those, all useful.
I think HMA BUTCHER is Ok as the Major Butcher referred to in the diary is from the R.E as it says "12 DUKW's detached to tow 9 rafts to Nyaungu by river under command of Major Butcher R.E."
WOW your father sailed enough miles to go around the earth 1 1/4 times.

Cheers and stay safe

Kevin

 

Glad to be of help. This is the landing position which those 9 dukw’s to Nyaungu faced with Major Butcher.
I’m sure you already know this, but the Irrawaddy is 4 times wider than the Rhine and fast flowing. At some points it is almost 3 miles wide when in flood and numerous underwater sand bars which shift with each tide. They could recce the river one day and the information would be out of date by the next tide. We had proper depth sonar type equipment in our boat but, heaven knows how they managed all those years ago.
Yes, my father left the U.K. in April 1942 , just before his 21st birthday and didn’t come home until November 1945. I wouldn’t like to begin to calculate how many miles he and his company travelled that’s for sure.
Best wishes, Mary

 

Hi Mary,

I have just found another DUKW from the same Company that your father was in.
This is 330438 HMA BLIGHTY. The image is from War Pictorial News No. 197 courtesy the Imperial War Museum Archives.

Cheers

Kevin