Welfare Vehicles

[Lang]

Well, I will start what could be a huge thread.

We need pictures and info on any welfare vehicles. This includes but not restricted to:

YMCA
Salvation Army
American Red Cross
NAAFI
Army/Navy/Welfare Organisations

[Lang]

A few more Red Cross

[Lang]

And another lot

[Lang]

And the next group

[Lang]

Another bunch here

[Lang]

Last lot here

[lincwel]

Pic of loud speaker vehicle
Door skin has alogo that looks like a winged microphone
Any takers?

[Matthew P]

That speaker looks extra large. But among the Australian mobiles a public address system became standard equipment. It is oft mentioned in Salvos With the Forces and is specifically listed as "sound system complete with radio tuner, pick up and microphone" in the description of the 30 standardized units built.

Matt

[Lang]

Do you know in which country the speaker Tilly photo was taken?

Lang

[lincwel]

The other pics that were with it indicate the UK, Yorkshire area

[Peter Mossong]

Firstly found in our National Archives..pretty rare photos from Crete!
YMCA van and base on Crete.

[Peter Mossong]

This next one managed to survive all that was thrown at it in both the desert and Italy and returned to New Zealand after the war! Good old Ford V8 van.

For many years it was displayed in a shed at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in Northland, but is now in residence as an exhibit at the QEII Army Museum at Waiouru.

Text and most photos below borrowed with thanks from the 28th Maori Battalion website:

28th Maori Battalion Canteen Truck
Te Rau Aroha
During World War II Te Rau Aroha was driven and looked after throughout the North African and Italian Campaigns by the legendary canteen keeper Charlie Bennet MBE. Charlie, a Pakeha serviceman, was affectionately known by the soldiers as “Charlie Y.M.” (The Y.M. coming from the initials YMCA).

The truck was a gift to the 28th Maori Battalion from children of the Native Schools of New Zealand. When the Maori community decided to send their men to war with a special gift, an appeal for funds went around the schools. The target was 850 pounds, (about $1700 at the time). The response was magnificent. In just six months the schools grew vegetables for sale and ran concerts and stalls; children also dug into their moneyboxes. The final total was 1000 pounds ($2000 at the time), a lot of money in those days.

To the soldiers of the 28th (Maori) Battalion, Te Rau Aroha was more than a canteen. They had hastened to its assistance when it was in trouble on the desert; they had protected it, they had shown concern for its safety when it was overdue; they had sought it out in the night just to satisfy themselves that it was still there in the convoy. It had represented to them everything they held dear to home; and the inscription on the side, “Presented to the Maori Battalion as a token of love by the Children of Native Schools of New Zealand” was written on the hearts of the brave men of the 28th (Maori) Battalion.

https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/memory/te-rau-aroha

The truck appears to have had a few repaints over time (naturally, just check out the shrapnel damage in the first photo) and unfortunately, no photos I have found of it are dated! I have found none of it during it's Italian campaign when I suspect it was repainted in the darker colour.
On the offside door, the Italian campaign place names were listed, but I can't now find a photo of this!

Those with the white additions on the nose appear to have been taken post war, when the truck did a tour of all the native schools who help to fund-raise for it. The last couple are as it is now displayed at the museum.

[Matthew P]

Peter,

Thank you for sharing those. I was just writing a short little blurb article for a project for my wife and describing the 'Mobile' canteen as "more than a tea wagon".

"Writing paper and envelopes are provided for sending letters home, comforts are distributed. Music and news are broadcast, uniforms mended, ball games hosted and musical instruments provided for the men to hold concerts."

The affection and concern shown the 'Mobile' and it's drivers has come up time and again in my research. Your post though has additional elements. Those men knew from whom the funds for the truck came. It meant even more to them, then just any old canteen with tea and tobacco.

Thank you.
Matthew

[David Herbert]

Peter,

Thank you for posting about this truck but looking at the photos it seems that either it has been re-bodied or that the first photo (the one with the shrapnel damage) is showing a different truck. In the first photo the body sides extend down to level with the cab steps, There is something (fuel tank ?) with two horizontal ribs on it behind the cab step, the gap between the cab and the body is filled in and the body is extended over the cab roof. None of these features show in the other photos

I can see that when the shrapnel damage was repaired, that area of the body could well have been changed but there would have been no need to remove the section above the cab.
Looking harder I think that the cab door handle is much higher up relative to the cab window in the first photo so I definitely see these as two different trucks.

Also there is what looks like a pressed rib in the cab door about a foot up from the bottom but this is actually a mark in the photograph and extends all the way across the photo including across two men !

David

[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!

Cheers,
Pete M.

[Matthew P]

The Imperial War Museum recently published a new collection of photographs from the No. 5 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit They appear to be mostly from Holland, Belgium and Germany in late 44 through late 45. I found photos of Salvation Army, YMCA and NAAFI/EFI mobile canteens as well as a mobile library and mobile church truck.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/s...c%20Unit%5D=on

Here are some of the canteen photos. I'd like to identify these truck chassis as these couple of types have appeared routinely. I know the Bedford OXC was to be a standard canteen truck there are a number of these that have appeared in my research. So it would appear that this was another "standard" type(s) employed.

I also note that on the NAAFI canteens described in the captions as "First across the Rhine" have the Allied star applied to the sides of the coachwork not on the cab door as is more typically seen.

Matt

[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.

094B763A-C8F0-4650-8E45-1D41C82D63A3.jpeg 2842F6A7-10CA-4CBA-B102-F03FA6664464.jpeg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Found on AWM site:

"Informal portrait of Salvation Army Officers. Identified from left to right: Red Shield War Representative and unofficial Padre, Major Arthur William 'Mac' McIlveen; Major Ralph Satchell and Major Harold Hosier. The vehicle is a Ford station wagon that has been converted to a mobile canteen, the Salvation Army Red Shield sign is visible on the door of the vehicle and the Australian Comfort Fund sign on the back panel. 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 until he retired with the rank of Brigadier. He was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order 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 he 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."

AWM 4065970.JPG

Source: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C356125

[lynx42]

It is a 1936 Ford station wagon with painted windows.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

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

Photos via André Margage

F80DEDA1-6B93-4343-9982-CABFD6375DC6.jpeg 494BAD50-06C6-4E56-AD7B-7187E5AFB7FB.jpeg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Two more photos found on FB:

F40327AF-BFCE-414A-9054-732FE83BB1D4.jpg 2AC19F38-B52B-4604-8D94-6D5172030272.jpg