Marine DUKWs also saw service in the Korean War.

USMC Photo. DUKW in Garapan, Saipan

The Amphibian Truck

DUKW=CCKW 353 chassis, General Motors. (6x6 truck) CCKW = C = 1941; C = Conventional; K = Front wheel drive; and W = Two rear driving axles. DUKW -- D = 1942; U = Utility (Amphib); K = Front Wheel Drive; and W = Two rear driving axles. DUKW pioneered in-line single tire drive wheels on all axles. 270 cid GMC motor 372 inches long (31') Height - Top up 106" Windshield down-89" Width - 99" Wheel base - 164" Ground clearance - Hull 18" - Axle 11 1/2" Tire track - front 63 5/8" Loaded Water-Line Length - 344"

Rated capacity – 5000 lbs.

M36 ring mount, with .50-cal machine gun every 4th DUKW.

CCKW 353 chassis, General Motors.

270 cid 6–cylinder GMC motor.

Weight 14,800–Lbs.

Rated at, governed, 6.4 mph water and 50 mph land.

21,000+ manufactured–WWII only.

$10,800.00 cost.

Marines–two man crew, driver and assistant driver.

Tire inflation/deflation by driver from inside cab.

First operational use in Pacific at Noumea, 1943, in Europe at Sicily, 1943.

Marine Companies:

First - Activated 12/15/43--disbanded after redesignations 12/22/45. With 2d Division on Saipan and attached to 4th Division on Tinian. Saw no further action. February 1945, attached to 3d Division, Guam, but didn't make Iwo Jima with it.

Second - Activated 12/15/43--absorbed into 2d Motor Transport Bn 12/6/45. With 4th Division at Saipan and Tinian. Transferred to 2d Division 8/6/44. Made Okinawa feint landings with 2d Division then detached and left on Okinawa as a 10th Army unit. Worked mostly with and in 6th Marine Division area. Rejoined 2d Division on Saipan 7/9/45. Japan Occupation with the division.

Third - Activated 12/1/44. Absorbed into 1st Motor Transport Bn. 12/6/45. Moved to Okinawa with 1st Division. On April 6th was put into III Amphibious Corps Service Group.

Fourth- Activated 10/25/44. Disbanded 10/31/45. Iwo Jima invasion.

Fifth- Activated 10/25/44. Disbanded 1/22/46. Iwo Jima Invasion.

Sixth- Activated 12/7/44 on Guadalcanal. Disbanded 7/16/47. Okinawa, 6th Division. Moved to Guam July 1945. After war ended, moved to Tsingtao, China.

A few men from First DUKW saw action in the Marshall Islands campaign with a U.S. Army DUKW unit. And the first landing in company size was made by Second DUKW at Saipan the morning of D-Day, 6/15/44.

Upon forming at Camp Linda Vista, bordering the north boundary of Camp Elliott, near San Diego, the First and Second companies sailed one week later to Oahu for training.

After a few days at Makua Pocket, near Wainanae, First DUKW moved to the island of Hawaii to join the 2d Marine Division. It landed 10th Marine Artillery D+1 at Saipan, through the channel blasted in the coral reef by the Japanese off Charon (now Chalan) Kanoa.

Second DUKW's personnel continued training at Makua Pocket. They learned the safest and best way to enter the ocean was to goose the motor and dive through a high wave just as it began breaking. They also learned to time incoming waves, floorboard the throttle and ride them in as one does with a surfboard, depositing the DUKWs well up on the beach. The frequent high surf conditions prepared that company to later face the heavy coral-reef surf off the beaches in the 4th Marine Division area at Saipan. The company had joined the 4th in early March 1944. It landed 14th Marine 105mm howitzers on Saipan the morning of D-Day, 6/15/1944. Second DUKW prime moved, in leap-frog fashion, bivouacked with, and supplied the 14th's 75mm and 105mm howitzers, and performed jacks-of-all-trades duties until Saipan was secured.

July 24, 1944, the company landed 14th Marine 75mm howitzers in the initial landings on Tinian. It returned to Saipan on the 27th to deliver 14th Marine 105mm howitzers to Tinian.

During a five-day period of stormy weather, which caused LCVPs to broach on the beaches and Amtracs to swamp or capsize in huge surf and become uncontrollable in heavy seas, DUKWs were the only means able to bring supplies ashore, enabling Tinian units to continue fighting.

The hybrids carved their niche in Marine Corps annals in the Marianas, including Guam. By mistake, Second DUKW landed 14th Marine howitzers on Saipan earlier than scheduled, reputedly in the third wave. Having artillery support ashore during the invasion's early stages proved of such benefit that the Marine Corps thereafter scheduled artillery to land earlier than previously thought practical.

The DUKW's ability to board and debark without assistance via way of an LST's ramp enabled the ship to anchor offshore, thereby reducing reef and beach congestion and lessened the danger of enemy fire on ship and personnel. Furthermore, the hybrid's ability to cross coral reefs and sandy beaches and then proceed inland to wherever supplies were needed saved what would otherwise have been countless man-hours of handling supplies. The DUKW's versatility forestalled the necessity to bring heavy transport vehicles ashore during early stages of invasions, further reducing island and beach congestion.

DUKW crews learned to think of their marvelous vehicles as lifesavers*. In addition to providing forward units the means with which to fight, each trip for a load of battle goods entailed quick delivery of Marine casualties to offshore ships for better medical care.

Iwo Jima was another test for the DUKW. As in the Marianas, it proved its mettle by moving artillery and supplies ashore, where it turned out to be the only wheeled vehicle that could move freely on Iwo's treacherous surface. Here too, Marine DUKW'ers carried a halo over their heads because, just as in the Marianas, losses were miraculously light. Landing on Iwo Jima under fire the first day of battle and operating on the island until it was secured, Capt. Walter Alford's 4th DUKW had not a single man killed but a number wounded though his company lost 16 DUKWs.

The DUKW further proved its value with Marine forces at Okinawa. Heavy rains made the island a quagmire at times. Loading in rear areas, the hybrids then proceeded by sea to deliver needs to frontline units. Crews not only braved enemy shells and sea delivering means of war to forward units, DUKWs from Second DUKW evacuated a unit trapped behind enemy lines. The company's personnel may have been the first Marine ground force unit to wear armored vests in combat--Army Air Corps flak jackets on Okinawa.

DUKWs from that company may have been the first American craft to enter Naha Harbor from the sea and then proceed to its inner reaches entirely by water. A dozer tank scraped a road down a harbor bank to enable them to exit the water and deliver gas to a tank unit, preventing it from being pulled off the front due to lack of fuel and other supplies.

The DUKW had taken its place, along with the LST, amtracs and tanks in the vanguard of Marine invasion forces. And with Okinawa now under America's control, the crews joined other Marines in making preparations for the landings on Kyushu where, undoubtedly, the blood of DUKW crews would have mingled with that of other Marines in tinting the waters red off the island's beaches.

Marine DUKW crews' contributions in the capture of Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, to provide an immovable base for B-29s, and delivery of the A-bombs, helped insure that the final landing on Japan would be a peaceful one.

And, once again, the DUKW's versatility proved of extreme benefit because the hybrid enabled quick movement of occupation forces and supplies between islands. In addition, DUKW personnel assisted in disarming Japanese.

During WWII, DUKWs were widely used by Allied Forces. The hybrid was copied by the Russians who named it BAV. The DUKW had proven the concept of single tire, in-line, drive wheels and benefits of in-cab inflation or deflation of tires by the driver–both features since copied by most of the world's armed forces.

Though built for war, a DUKW provided pleasure for Charles Lindbergh as a fishing craft in the Marshall Islands.

DUKWs may have made a contribution to Desert Storm. They were used in the late 1940's and early 1950's by coastal survey teams mapping the Persian Gulf coastline, which included photographs of the shoreline at submarine periscope level taken from DUKWs on the horizon.

Fifty-years later the versatile hybrids are still in use, much in demand by DUKW tour operators in the US, Great Britian and Australia plus collectors throughout the world. Prices for good "runners and swimmers" far exceed the original price of $10,800.00. A number of DUKW clubs exist on the European Continent and in the United Kingdom, with members touring low country canals and rivers throughout Europe and the UK.

Referred to as "not very seaworthy" by some unknowing writers, DUKWs have crossed the English Channel unescorted, conquered the Yukon River, and toured the European coast from Belgium to Finland.

After its war duties were over, the seagoing truck performed a multitude of duties throughout the world in search and rescue, construction, and other uses.

Truly a utile Artifact!

Due to scarcity of information in the USMC Historical Center amphibian truck files, few details of company activities, other than the Second and to a lesser degree the First, are available at the present time.

*Unknown to them, a U.S. Coast Guard patrol craft had run aground on a sandbar 1/4-mile offshore at Providencetown, Massachusetts. Driving rain, 60-knot winds and heavy surf prevented rescue by small boats or breeches buoy. A DUKW, in the area for a scheduled demonstration a few days later, rescued the 7-man crew. This rescue proved DUKW seaworthiness and reputedly triggered quick acceptance of the hybrids by previously unreceptive high-ranking American military.

Created by Arthur W. Wells, a Platoon Sergeant in the 2d Marine Amphibian Truck Company, WWII.

More DUKW Photos

Wonder what it was like going to war in US Marine Corps DUKWS, during World War II? Go to:

The Quack Corps - A Marine's War Pearl Harbor to Okinawa

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Checks should be made payable to Docents Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores--permissible to shorten to R. Santa Margarita y Las Flores or RSMyLF, with a note on it that funds are to be used exclusively on the DUKWS.

Mail to:
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ATTENTION HISTORY & MUSEUMS DUKW
BOX 555019
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Links:
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Thank you for dropping by.

59+

Copyright: Arthur W. Wells