Welfare Vehicles

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Peter Mossong

Hi David. Yes, I did notice the differences when re-doing those photos for posting. Unfortunately, that one with the Maori troops is the only wartime photo I've found of the vehicle. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a cunning swap over at some time!

Looking at the photos here https://www.armymuseum.co.nz/te-rau-aroha/ I can only conclude there was a Te Rau Aroha I and II. The first one was built on an earlier Ford chassis (1940 or 1941 model?) with a body with an overhang over the cab. The second one is a 1942 model Ford. It seems the latter survived, to remember the feats of the former.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Dave Hardway stated “the shrapnel damage that appears on the body with the early Cab/Chassis can be matched to the photo's with the later Cab/Chassis and to the Truck as it is today”.
So it seems the original body was converted and then transplanted onto the later chassis. A true Trigger’s Broom…

[lynx42]

This photo just popped up on F/book. Is it the original or a copy. Says it was restored but school apprentices after being found in a scrap yard in NZ.

[Lynn Eades]

Rick, you judge it. Compare the front guard / fender.
There are two fair haired girls in the photo. The taller one being my mother, the one on the left, her sister Joan.
The "truck" re visited the native schools on return.
Its a shame the sign writing didn't follow the original.

Can someone please turn the photos the right way up? Edit. Thank you Rob for turning them around in Post#157. The School Is the Okauia native school, on Douglas road out of Matamata. The number plate starts of with "Govt" This was fine for the first 9999 plates.

[Tony Smith]

WW1 style. Vehicle donated by the Hon. Mrs Hoares.

[welbike]

Anyone know what van this is? bike is a Norton 16H, may be taken just postwar, Norwegian troops, looking at the lettering on the side of the van.

Cheers,

Lex

[rob love]

For Lynn, and everyone trying to see them, I have fixed his photos.

[dcrfan]

How about this colour photo taken from a slide of an Fordson NAAFI vehicle. The slides were taken by Brian Darrah in Cyprus in late 1950s. He was a member of the RNZAF Vampire squadron posted there.

31631AFE-0AB3-4EB2-9F9D-B9330FCC5246 by tankienz, on Flickr

His other colour slides showing mainly aircraft are at https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/3...oloured-slides It is just possible to make out the side of a refueller painted sand colour in one photo but i can't see enough to hazard a guess of the vehicle type.

[Grant Bowker]

Based in the little of the refueller seen in the photo, my first thought is the AEC 6x6 with cab looking like that fitted to the Matador. Model 0854 or 0856 chassis - I don't know enough about their numbering system to say...

[Matthew P]

Here's a postcard I just picked up off eBay. Barking Engineering was a shop near London that built mobile canteens for the British Salvation Army. From the looks of things, this canteen is probably circa 1940?

Matt

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Chevrolet 1-1/2 ton 4x4 Panel Truck (G7105) converted to American Red Cross Clubmobile

Photos via André Margage

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Two more photos found on FB:

[Matthew P]

Originally Posted by Matthew P

Somewhere I have reference to these canteen body Bedfords and it's my understanding the UK War Office was trying to standardize the chassis used because so many different ones were being donated it was hard to maintain them in good running shape.

Matt

If anyone knows where I might have gotten this notion I'd appreciate it. I'm approaching article writing time and would like to source my facts and fact my sources.

Thanks
Matt

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Nice 1940 Chevrolet in Red Cross service.

"[Truck bearing red cross at Puckapunyal] [ca. 1940]"


Source: https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalin...17072583607636

[Mike K]

Tasmania WW2, Brighton army camp.

Source: Tasmanian history page Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/8459...8453429559902/

[Hanno Spoelstra]

International(?) truck in 1940 “donated for service overseas”



Photo “picked” by Beau Harper

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Fordson 7V NAAFI van in Caen, read more here:https://flic.kr/p/MCG3fc

[Mike K]

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C356129

Description
Informal portrait of Red Shield War Representatives Major Charles B (Charlie) Cross (left) and Major Arthur William 'Mac' McIlveen (right) of the Salvation Army standing behind the open doors of their Citroen T23 1.5 ton cargo truck. The vehicle has the registration number V-15119 and the insignia of the Salvation Army, a Red Shield, painted on either door. McIlveen trained as a Salvation Army officer in Melbourne and tried to enlist as a Padre during the First World War but the Salvation Army refused to send him as his superiors considered him ‘too reckless’. Instead McIlveen enlisted as a private in the AIF on 9 July 1918 but it proved an anti-climax as he was still aboard the transport vessel SS Wyreema when the armistice was signed and he was sent home. During the Second World War, aged 54, he served as a Salvation Army Representative and an unofficial Padre attached to the 2/9th Battalion. At Tobruk, he was known for his fearlessness, taking news and any comforts he could find out to soldiers in the field. On his return from overseas service he served as a Salvation Army Prison Officer in NSW and he was made a Brigadier in 1938. He was awarded the Member of the British Empire (MBE) on 10 June 1961, in 1967 he was admitted to the Order of the Founder, the Salvation Army's highest award, and was knighted for his services to ex-servicemen on 1 January 1970. Sir Arthur William McIlveen died on 1 May 1979 at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, and was buried in Woronora cemetery with full military honours.

[Mike K]

Another West. Australia scene. A Ford Prefect/Popular ute and a 1939 Ford van named DIGGER.

https://collectionswa.net.au/items/9...6-131aa1dc2439

[Mike K]

https://collectionswa.net.au/items/0...0-2027ef3d86ed

International K series trucks fitted with the Aust. pattern canvas top cabs with half doors. From memory , these cabs have a wooden frame.

Historical information

The Australian Comforts Fund was established in August 1916 to co-ordinate the activities of the state based patriotic funds, which were established earlier in World War I. Mainly run by women, they provided and distributed free comforts to the Australian 'fit' fighting men in all the battle zones. They became divisions of the Australian Comforts Fund. The Council of the Fund comprised two delegates from New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland and one from the states of Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. The Executive headquarters was located in Sydney. It ceased operation on 10 April 1920 and was reconstituted in World War II in June 1940 and ceased operation again on 27 June 1946.

Details

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Lang

Well, the Australians took lots of shots of cinema units.

Used to be one of these ex-army MCP International K2 ? trucks up at Yea, Victoria, many years ago. The Yea K2 was unusual in that it still had the original wartime wooden GS body, very rotted, but still with all of the metal fittings in-situ. The K2 owner also had a cab 12 C8 CMP that I eventually bought. International-H (Aust.) also assembled the smaller military 15cwt K1 model, it was fitted with the same wooden framed military canvas topped cab. A coupe utility version of the K1 was also built, don't know if the army used these - a long time ago, I spotted a nice original K1 ute sitting in a paddock , a few days later it had been moved, it was now badly damaged , some hoons had used it as a paddock bomb, the front end was caved in. https://collections.museumsvictoria..../items/1469625