Universal carrier

[Fred]

Hey thanks for the patience on this; no excuses, just need a little orientation on how to navigate.

From the source that your quoteing, that sheds a whole new venue about how the Marines may have gotten associated with the T-16. At this point, I am attempting to follow up on three sources of a T-16 for restoration, all of them the Ford Motor company's larger 4 wheel unit. I understand that the T-16 is not an easy restoration so its going to be some time before I have to make any historical decisions.

I think the Brits and Canadians used the 3 wheel version although Canada did manufacture quit a number of these units under licience from Ford, however I don't know which ones.

Your correct, the 7th was the Marine unit that landed on Guadalcanal and they were essentially abandoned at first. The Army's 164th was involved and my guess is that they migrated to the canal from Australia and quit possibly obtained some of the T-16's for their use. During subsequent combats, (remember this island took 6 months to secure), it is equally likely that Army and Marine Corp units swapped and traded equipement, hence the confusion about the "Marine Corps varient" Now I'm guessing that the Marines simply used Army equipment but without official assignment to any particular unit. I will still attempt to locate some official documentation with regards to the 3ed to see if there is something to it, however the folks at Quantico said that the T-16 was not part of their inventory, (at least according to the guy I talked to on the telephone with today)

Lets keep all the options open and see how this evolves, could prove interesting.

Fred

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
You've got it... this software gives you all sorts of options re presentation etc. Take some time to learn them and it'll be a lot easier for you!

Now, something for you.

COMBAT OFFICER
A Memoir of War in the South Pacific
by Charles H. Walker
Random House, 2004
ISBN 0-345-46385-4

Excerpt from Page 21:


These guys were Company H of the 164th Infantry, and this action took place on Guadalcanal late October 1942; you can figure out the Marine unit there, although the 1st Marines rings a bell.

There are other references to Bren carriers elsewhere in this text, but it will take me a while to find them.

On the subject of the carriers themselves, I'm wondering if they were pinched from the Aussies; the only other thing I can think of is that a limited number were acquired for evaluation purposes. Perhaps our Australian mates can shed some light on this? In a case like that, I wonder what the markings might have been, and indeed, whether the Aussies pawned off British or Canadian carriers on the Yanks, or whether the carriers were Australian.

I'll keep looking for more references, but this is a start! If you're serious about doing this project, we'll have to first establish carrier type and mark...



Jif