Post war "NATO mutual aid" stenciling

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Let’s collect some examples of the stenciling found on vehicles and equipment supplied under military aid.

This stencil was found on the side of the cargo bed of a C60L, now in Belgium with Jos van der Auwera:

“NORTH ATLANTIC
TREATY ORGANIZATION
MUTUAL AID”

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Another example found on a F15A in Italy:




“NORTH ATLANTIC
TREATY ORGANIZATION
MUTUAL AID”




“TO THE ITALIAN ARMY
FROM THE CANADIAN ARMY”

[Grant Bowker]

To my eyes, the text looks more likely to be "MUTUAL AID" than "MILITARY AID".

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

To my eyes, the text looks more likely to be "MUTUAL AID" than "MILITARY AID".

Grant is correct, it is Mutual Aid as that was the name for the program in which Canada provided military equipment to help rearm some of the European NATO Allies.

Those stencils should be preserved as they are a tangible link to a specific time period.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

MUTUAL AID it is of course, should have read more carefully. Now corrected posts above: MUTUAL instead of MILITARY

Started a thread here to preserve such info of often it is lost due to sandblasting or at least new layers of paint.

[Mike Cecil]

"Grant is correct, it is Mutual Aid as that was the name for the program in which Canada provided military equipment to help rearm some of the European NATO Allies."

Not just Europe, and not only post-war. The Canadian Mutual Aid agreements were created under the War Appropriation (United Nations Mutual Aid) Act of 1943, a wartime measure more or less equivalent to the US Act that created the US Lend-Lease programme. It was administered by the Canadian Mutual Aid Board. The symbol was the maple leaf surrounded by a segmented circle with Canada in English at the top, and in Cyrilic on the left and Chinese on the right.

Mike

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Not just Europe, and not only post-war. The Canadian Mutual Aid agreements were created under the War Appropriation (United Nations Mutual Aid) Act of 1943, a wartime measure more or less equivalent to the US Act that created the US Lend-Lease programme.

But these ones must have been a supplied postwar as the stencils say:

“NORTH ATLANTIC
TREATY ORGANIZATION
MUTUAL AID”

Also read Canadian Mutual Aid Programme: WW2 equipment supplied to NATO Allies

[Mike Cecil]

Agreed: these are post-war markings. I was referring to Grant's reference to the programme, not that particular set of markings.

My point was that the generosity of our Canadian friends, through Canadian Mutual Aid, commenced during the war, ie was initially a wartime measure that continued into the post-war period, modified along the way as circumstances changed.

Mike

[David Dunlop]

Many years back, I recall seeing a photo of a line of CMP's with similar stencils on the doors indicating they were part of an aid program for Belgium, and in the 1980's I think there were a number of CMP's found sitting in storage somewhere in France with some form of aid markings on them as well.

David