Well, now that you mention it, I don't recall that there was a star on that Willys on my grandfather's farm (and how would you miss a detail like that). It's a good bet that your Mom's correct, I mean she got the idea from somewhere, right?
Maybe it didn't come from overseas. Wondering now where he ever got that thing?
Shoot, and the only real person left to ask is my Uncle, now 93 bless him, but he doesn't even really know who he is anymore sadly, much less where that JEEP came from.
Either way, it was fun to drive!
A round of emails, and a round of phone calls to siblings, cousins, kith, and kin and here's the consensus (not a confirmation but a consensus):
- late 40's/ early 50's after the war (WWII, of course), and there were depots all around the DC area (Meyer, Meade, Belvoir, Aberdeen, A.P. Hill, etc) full of JEEPS in crates. No one seems able to confirm if they were 1) domestic and never shipped overseas, or 2) crated post-war in Europe and shipped back Stateside.
- but it is confirmed that the old farm Willys, was 1) crated at purchase and also 2) purchased at a local area military depot (but no one knows what the location of the depot was).
- and apparently the purchase had nothing to do with my grandfather's separation at the war's end with the rank of general. Evidently these things were all available for purchase by the general public, and those were the conditions under which the farm JEEP was purchased.