Guy was one of the tankers guarding the side of the road, man he went through some adventures. Soldiers built their own deadly gun trucks duration. Jerry designed and printed the gun truck shirt he is wearing. This article traces the varying paths through which gun truck field mods were initiated by. Fm 2345 basic field manual browning machine gun, caliber.
From m16 rifles to huey helicopters, the vietnam war launched weapons that went on. Those trucks were driven by a brave and highly resourceful group of people. Early m4a3105 sherman assault tank completed kitbash of. General interest military and naval science military maneuvers forecasts and trends military operations military trucks usage soldiers services trucks. Post jobs, find pros, and collaborate commission free in our professional marketplace. See more ideas about vietnam, vietnam war and trucks.
The newest entrynumber 184in osprey publishings new vanguard series of concise, profusely illustrated books dealing with military machinery throughout the ages is vietnam gun trucks 48 pp. Gun trucks played a vital role in the vietnam war, escorting supply convoys through regions most likely to come under attack. The gun truck is equipped with a crewserved weapons system, preferably in a protective position. As proven historically in vietnam and again in iraq, logistical security was an enduring problem. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. For those who fought for it, freedom has a taste the protected will never know. We are a non commercial community interested only in the discussion of all things military. Trucks that retained the same name would vary somewhat over the years. Join paul shull as he heads to tennessee to help a vietnam vet rebuild a gun truck nicknamed the proud american. Vietnam gun truck vet performance tshirt with names like the piece maker, eve of destruction, puff the tragic wagon and the bounty hunter the gun trucks of vietnam struck fear into the enemy while protecting supply convoys through some of the most dangerous stretches of roadway in vietnam. They went to the m54 a little later because it can carry more firepower and could carry much more weight. A gun truck is an armored vehicle with one or more crewserved weapons used by units of regular armies or other official government armed forces to escort military convoys in regions subject to ambush by guerrilla forces, defend airfields, provide perimeter defense, or serve as mobile pillboxes for home guardtype defensive units. While vietnam is usually perceived as an infantry war, with us forces deploying by helicopter, the long.
Central highlands 19711972 vietnam war dvd home movies. I always liked king cobra, had neat graphics on it. Inn at morro bay 60 state park rd morro bay, ca 93442 reservation number. Repaints would sometimes even change the name of the truck. New book on they should be out by the end of the year from squadron. Free world infantry units were committed to offensive operations and could not fully secure the. Army field manual fm 5530, army motor transport units and opera tions, were. Vietnam gun trucks, volume 2 in color by james lyles. Buy vietnam gun trucks new vanguard by gordon l rottman isbn. The m54 was the primary heavy cargo truck of the u. Eventually the army developed kits to weld on for the trucks and even jeeps. The book is in the standard osprey format and has 48 pages, with a mix of both colour and black and white photographs of interest are the eight pages of colour artwork of the gun trucks, two of which are of a single.
Vietnam gun trucks and subsequent convoy doctrine evolved with changing. Quad 50s at hue by bob lauver i had been in vietnam for 15 months on the afternoon of january 30th, 1968. In addition to the efforts of your humble podcast host, the smithsonian channel tv channel is helping out with its national tv series the weapon hunter, which. In vietnam everything last thing that was used in that war was at one time or another moved by truck. Jerry wanted to make models of them, in 5th scale, but discovered that no one made a model of the m54 five ton. Vietnam gun truck question finescale modeler essential. Tactics is not something a student of war can expect to learn by reading a manual. Gun trucks of the vietnam war cherrieswriter vietnam war website. Fast forward to vietnam with this book vietnam gun trucks when logistical trains became targets of opportunity by the viet cong being ambushed with guerrilla hitandrun tactics.
Thank you for visiting the vietnam gun truck psychotic reaction web site. Although the group was not the only unit in vietnam to employ cargo trucks as security vehicles, it was the first to use them on a large scale. During the vietnam war, it was the mission of the us army transportation corps to ferry supplies from the coastal ports of qui nhon and. Yeah, saw one with a nice 2 hole on the outside and hundreds of small holes on the inside from the splash of the melted metal. Quite a few guys were wearing them at the last reunion he attended. Since september of 1967 my time had been served as squad leader and acting section chief with battery g, 65th artillery, a quad 50 unit.
About this site if someone asked me to describe what my idea of a vietnam guntruck web page is about, i would first have to say, even though its been a part of my life for over 43 years, its only been eight years since i learned the story of that huge, little known part of our history. Gun trucks on guard a time and a place in vietnam i had a web site in 1997 i thought it was time to share all the pictures that were sent to me. I had spent a year as a army truck driver in germany before being sent to vietnam. To counter this threat the americans began to armor existing vehicles and adding various arms to provide protecting with added offensive capability. We had several of the apc gun trucks in 27th trans battalion. Gun trucks typically have improvised vehicle armor, such as. Flag images indicative of country of origin and not necessarily primary.
In fact, every us manual on air defense guns, including the. In vietnam this principle worked well and provided convoys a means of selfdefense. Army follows military operations of vietnam by army logistician. Between 1967 and 1971, the 2 12ton and 5ton guntrucks were used to great advantage by 8th group, first in the highlands and coastal areas of northern ii corps and later at hue and da nang in i corps. The m35a1 nancy from afv club is the only injection molded kit, though there are other versions of resin gun trucks. At first, i was in a reefer platoon pulling refrigerated vans to phan rang from my base in cam rahn bay. Youll see footage filmed from the back of a gun truck while moving down paved and dirt roads, through villages and countryside in the central highlands of vietnam. Vietnam war was a gun truck designed as a dedicated. Unfortunately, there are not many kits available to build a gun truck. Vietnam paintings to the museum, here he is standing by some of them while at the reunion for vietnam truckers in june, 2006.
The most popular vietnam war model vehicle kits brands include tamiya, monogramrevell, academy plastics. See more ideas about vietnam, vietnam war and vietnam war photos. There are a total of 48 vietnam war vehicles 1955 1975 in the military factory. Teaching the vietnam war with primary sources from the new.
Home movie footage filmed by a crew member on the gun truck kontiki, with footage of pleiku, artillery hill, lz oasis, nha trang, and more. This archive, containing 21,477 pages of documents received in response to vvaws freedom of information act requests, chronicles the groups organizing activities across the country. This is a great story of vietnam gun trucks and the brave men that were part of army transportation. To counter this, the men begin to modify their trucks, adding upgraded armor and serious firepower.
As critical as they were, few people know about these amazing vehicles and the people that operated them. The biggest gun truck on record in iraq was created as a conversion of the pls truck, very similar to the hemtt, only with two more wheels and a pallet platform. Written by a vietnam veteran, this book traces the development of these gun trucks from the juryrigged originals to the powerful armoured vehicles that appeared later in the war. A gun truck is an armored vehicle with one or more crewserved weapons used by units of. Rottman entered the us army in 1967, volunteered for special forces and completed training as a weapons specialist. Vietnam veterans against the war vvaw was founded in 1967 and quickly became one of the most visible antiwar groups of the 1960s and 1970s. This gun truck, as it became known, was based on the m35 212 ton cargo truck duece. We do not sell or authorise the use of images hosted on our servers, if you wish to purchase or use imagery contact the uploader directly. Hobbylinc carries 19 vietnam war model vehicle kits at discounts up to 46%. Vietnam gun trucks by james lyles was printed in november 2003 and attached to part 1. On this platform, the soldiers have installed an armored superstructure with carriages for heavy 12,7 mm m2hb machineguns and automatic grenade launchers mk 19. He and james lyleslater author of the gun truck book the hard ride and a vietnam gun trucker himself, came up with master parts for a m54 cab and made molds to cast their parts. While these proved less than ideal, the concept was considered valid, and more and more gun trucks appeared, sporting heavier weapons and armor.
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