discovered sandcolor under OD, 1st gulfwar vet?

[CorneLauwerijssen]

Hello

Iam in the progress of sanding my 1972 M35a2. just to give it a new layer of OD. But while I was doing this I found sandcolor everywhere, bumpers, hood, in- and outside cabine, chassis, fenders etc.
I did also discover some numbers on the sandcolorlayer, the sandcolor is about the 3th or 4th layer of paint and have been painted over about 6 times, but never in camo paterns.

Does anyone get some ideas about this, I guess it might drove in
the 1st Gulfwar????! Also because its over 10years in civilian ownership, first in Belgium
and now in the Netherlands.

picture of the bumper, left corner.

Greets,

Corné

 

[2027Deuce]

It may have been in the gulf war, the best way to find out is determine which units had the truck and then see if they deployed for Desert Storm. If you post the truck numbers there are some guys on here that can get unit info for you.

 

[ida34]

Some units kept their vehicles tan. When I was at Fort Campbell before Desert Storm the 5th SF Group kept their vehicles painted tan.

 

[BKubu]

Even if you know the unit was there, there is still no way to know that ALL of their equipment went with them. With that said, if the inverted V is on the door, it probably was over there. I am not positive that all vehicles had the inverted V, but I have heard they did not paint them with the inverted V unless they were over there or were about to be sent. Look for talcum-like sand under the truck and in the cab. I had an M813A1 that was with Communications Electronic Command (CECOM) in Ft. Mommouth, NJ. This truck was tan and had literally shovels of fine sand packed in the back of the cab and on top of the skid plate that protects the air pack (I found it when I was replacing the air pack). Even with that truck, I was not positive it was a Gulf War vet, but I believe it was.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Wow Bruce, I bet that was fun. Unbolt a couple of skid plate bolts and WHAM, a face full of sand!

 

[saddamsnightmare]

March 26th, 2008.

My 1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 "Saddam's Nightmare" never recieved the OD or Woodland after deployment to the Gulf War, the fading on the 686A Tan is consistent with 17,18 years exposure, the cab was left orginal OD semi gloss interior with touchups of Woodland Green here and there, and very fine sand the color of the body is in the cab, toolbox, battery box bottom and anywhere it can't shake out. The body was depot painted in 1990/1991 in 686A tan (on every part except the cab interior), and as the unit spent it's last years with the 300TH QMC, 88th RRC in Peru, Illinois, I don't think 686A quite blends into the Illoinis countryside, or does it? I can't say if it had the "V" inverted on the door, but when I got it from Bull Dog Mack13, there was little evidence of any repainting being done except his touch up and new bumper numbers.
Harpers Ferry NHP got a deuce dump truck that had been in Desert Storm with an engineer company, and it went there and back in the 4 color MERDC Woodland CAmouflage, with the chalked loading markings on the front fenders, sand everywhere (same color as my deuce's), no V's on the doors, so it probably stuck out like a sore thumb.....

Sincerely,

Kyle F. McGrogan

 

[CorneLauwerijssen]

Woww very cool stories!! It made my realize that the chance my truck had been
there seem much smaller as there where trucks in the US as a reserve also
in Tan color.
But I know most trucks here in the Netherlands and Belgium are coming
from the US depots in Germany and those where all in Camo colors that I have
seen and that where around 1000trucks or more.
But maybe these trucks or some of them have travelled around the world or twice before
they ended in Germany, like mine maybe. Strange is mine doesnt have camo colors.
Or could it be that the trucks in Germany where also prepared for Desert Storm and
where painted Tan?

greets,

Corné

 

[dma251]

My hemtt was FILLED with that talc-like sand. After a few years it sets up like cement in some spots and had to be picked out with a screwdriver when I stripped it. It gets into EVERYTHING.... Heater, electrical panel area, the openings on the sides of the sunvisors.... Everywhere...

 

[bulldog_mack13]

Almost everything we have is tan , about 98% of stuff , and more than half the stuff in the motor pools never go over to the war .

 

[jld66]

Not all of the vehicles sent to Desert Storm, whether painted tan or not, had the inverted V on them. There was a severe shortage of tan paint as we prepared to deploy, so many vehicles, especially those belonging to support units, did not get the tan livery.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

March 28th, 2008.

HARPERS FERRY NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK's M52(a) was a sister to my 1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2, and when we checked her assignments, she had been in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, and then was returned home and sent to us out of either Richmond, Va., or Fort Bragg, but she was in the MERDC 4 color woodland scheme, with her bumper markings intact, and chalked loading instructions at to what ship returned her out of Kuwait or Saudi Arabia ( a USN Ro-Ro). The superintendent wanted to repaint her white with NPS arrowheads, but her air steering unit failed first and she was sold to either Memphis or Coleman at Mechanicsburg (or remotely to Dave Newman at Eastern Surplus in Phila.) for $4,500.00 as is. She had the C turbo, and you could hear her a 1/2 mile away in the hollows whistling when she was climbing Maryland or Loudoun Heights trails with a load.
No tan paint anywhere, and sand everywhere it could hide, no Inverted "V", no repaints, no nothing!!!! I think a lot of these trucks that had just been through Depot Rebuild got picked and shipped from whatever unit that had them, to whatever units needed them, and only when the war was looming did vehicles like mine (and Bull Dog Mack13's (former) truck get hit with the 686 and 686A in the rebuilds just prior to being sent, as everything on this truck except for the cab interior is 686A Tan (has anyone seen an M35A2 from the Desert Storm Period with a tan interior?), indicating dissassembly, rebuild, repaint, and reassambly (depot installed nameplate/VIN with no builder name on it (Kaiser Jeep), and the high probability is that with the 1990/1991 timeframe on the rebuild that she was in as a low mileage truck (only 22,860+ to date since that rebuild).
Several thousand vehicles were sent, and HFNHP's Kaiser Jeep dump was rebuilt in the same timeframe, making it a candidate also (the chalk marks were additional confirmation to her paperwork). More when then the modern GI's think possible now, as a half million troops went then and nothing was "Light" in operational planning.
The pity is that the only "Light" that occurred this time is in the planning and deployments, and so our GI's have paid for that mistake repeatedly (no- I'm not a liberal, just a realist!).

Thanks again for the insights into the varigated historys of these least remembered and honored veteran's, the cargo trucks that make it possible to move faster then a walk in our military operations.

Sincerely,

Kyle F. McGrogan

1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 Wo/W "Saddam's Nightmare" Desert Storm and Vietnam Veteran Deuce
""??"" Johnson MFG. Co. M105A2 Cargo Trailer, 1-1/2 Ton, MERDC or NATO 4 color Woodland
1963 Swiss Army Cargo Unimog S404.114 Mercedes Benz NATO Green.

 

[emmado22]

HARPERS FERRY NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK's M52(a) was a sister to my 1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2, and when we checked her assignments, she had been in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm,

And how did you check into those exactly?

 

[saddamsnightmare]

March 28th, 2008.

At the time, it was a combination of surviving bumper numbers (several overpainted ones), a master mechanic who knew the paper trail for the truck, a pentagon historian, and the fact that one Ranger's mother worked for the then assistant Secretary of Defense (When the A.S.ofD. calls, the Army answers). She (the dump truck) was assigned to combat engineer units involved in all those actions, and due to the very low mileage prior to rebuild and rebuild in the Depots, the truck was always ready and I guess you could say wherever the Combat Engineers went, she went.
I would've loved to have had the truck at the time we decommissioned her, but she went out with two very crappy gas deuce dump trucks that weren't worth the hauling to the junkyard. I suspect if I leaned on the right people yet, I could find, like MEDLOG, some more on her yet, but I do hope the company that bought her rebuilt her, as she wasone of the best deuces I've seen (and I've seen a few. The dump trucks seemed to hve never racked up the total mileages that the cargo deuces seem to get, but then I guess they are more limited in their deployments.
In the world of the computer, more will likely turn up on these trucks as time goes on, with the paper trails you have to be willing to dig in very strange places sometimes to find what you're looking for.

Regards,
Sincerely,
Kyle F. McGrogan

 

[Cdub]

What that looks like to me is where they spayed the bumper end tan for the unit numbers to be painted over in black.

Is any other part of the truck tan underneath.......??

C'dub

 

[Cdub]

Like this........??

 

[CorneLauwerijssen]

There is indeed a rectangular surface each side of the bumper which has a
tan surface over OD with unit numbers in black.
BUT this is over the 100% tan layer of paint.

I did also recover a layer of white paint all over the truck,but not in the cabine.
White color is over the tan layer btw.
I think you can see this in the pics.
This could have been UN forces?? somewhere in Yugoslavia maybe?

Iam just guessing things, you guys have been there with these trucks, so you
are the best to ask for.

I hope the weather gets better overhere, then I can go on with sanding.

Thanks for all replies!! They are very interesting!!

 

[Cdub]

The White color is the primer...........

C'dub

 

[CorneLauwerijssen]

Thanks, I didnt expect that the military used primer for repainting.

 

[Cdub]

Even after the rebuild in '97 I've found white/green and again white/green........some tough stuff to sand....

Cheers,

C'dub

 

[bambambam22]

Can anyone help me with a Desert Camo pattern for a Ford Bronco. I can find forest but not Desert and I am not sure if it is the same pattern and if it is I dont know what colors would go where anyway. I need the pattern and need to know what color goes where. Any help would be appriciated. And I do know that the trucks in the asnd box were all solid tan and that is not the pattern that I am looking for