Memorial Day, a time to pause and reflect on the sacrifices of those who have served in the armed forces, is a moment to consider what unites rather than divides many aspects of the American experience. In the automotive world, the Ford vs. Chevy / Ford Motor Company vs. GM argument is over 100 years old and deeply embedded in American car culture. At times, though, it is clear that both are in the same boat, and one of those moments was captured in the photo above in August 1944. Taken in Saint-Raphael, a town on the Mediterranean in the Cote d’Azur that was one of the landing sites in the Allied invasion of southern France, it shows GIs of the U.S. 7th Army entering a wrecked building that once housed showrooms and stations service for both Ford and General Motors.
Before the war, this dealership must have been an exclusive establishment, selling imported American cars at a time when few people in France owned a car. The scene is a poignant reminder of a time when the American automobile industry was the undisputed leader in mass producing high quality vehicles and sold its products worldwide.
This scene from Band of Brothers, of a GI yelling at passing German prisoners of war, brings both of these themes to life. The choice of vehicles shown on screen appears to give a nod to each of the Big Three, by showing a vehicle produced by each of them: GM (GMC CCKW 2.5 ton truck), Ford (Ford GPW jeep), and Chrysler (M4 Sherman tank). At the same time, an American taunting Germans for their lack of automobiles is obviously ironic in a somewhat painful way. Memorial Day is about the veterans and not their vehicles, but thinking about both is not out of line, I believe.
As time marches on further away from World War Two and more members of those generations pass on I wonder how the legacy will reshape itself. The United States sure had a long rough patch going on considering 1928/1929 was the beginning of the Depression, there was not a great improvement during the 1930s, and it took us getting into World War Two until the late 1940s to really pull us out of the dumps. Having been born in 1989 it boggles my mind how much the United States changed in the 30 years from 1944-1974, but I am just looking at it from a historical perspective.
That is a wonderful picture. In Europe it was very different, no national franchises as we know them, just some enterprising Frenchman contracting with both manufacturers to carry their cars. And, no doubt, both Ford and GM were happy to see a few more units overseas – if only to show the locals what a real car was like.
Teddy (and here I’ll apologize in advance for getting a bit political), you have no idea the amount of changes that happened in those thirty years, and you’ll never really understand the amount of change that happened unless you’ve lived thru them, and were part of the generation that tore everything up and redid it. Yes, we corrected a few really bad inequities that were long overdue for fixing, but in general what we did for this country wasn’t all that great. We lost a lot of values and ideals that made America what it was in the process.
Thank you for your enormous contribution in many wars.I grew up near a large USAF base and America was very much appreciated.
This is sort of “non car” but I fee compelled to say something because of everything I’m reading on the web.
I was alive in 44 but cannot remember much (born in 43). My parents were born in 1905 and went from horses and wagons to landing on the moon. My mom didn’t pass till 2007 and I felt very blessed that she lasted so long. I actually transcribed some handwritten pages into 40 typed ones for the family and put them on line on my personal website. Change is inevitable but to see the change she saw is really something.
We all tend to get philosophical when we get old. At 70 I hope I don’t babble too much. If I do, the commenters here will right that ship I am sure. I have found that one the best things I can do as I age is to continue to engage with folks on this site. You provide a wealth of information in the stories and the comments and require me to remain aware that I don’t have the only valid POV.
I am one of the guys that was slogging around somewhere overseas during an unpleasantness. Mine was in SE Asia and places I still don’t talk about while on subs. People keep thanking me for my service when I wear my Navy ball cap. I would like to turn the tables on you a little bit and thank you for keeping me from being lost in the past. The eyes have dimmed and will continue to do so. Memories are a little slower but I don’t think I’m senile and I give y’all a lot of the credit. Differences of opinion without ad hominum attacks is something Paul created and I use every day.
Thanks for helping me keep it real.
Thank you for your service, if you were in the Vietnam war, double thankyou! what the media did to returning vets was way out of line. Enjoy this Memorial day!
Thank you for your service and I never thought about me keeping people from being lost in the past.
Thank you Lee for both your perspective and service 🙂
Chevrolet was used as a weapon of war this is what the LRDG used in the North African desert yeah the Jeep had 4×4 but it was too small for extended patrols so lend lease Chev trucks were modified by ANZAC troops, they carried a small hill of gas and ammunition mounted a Lewis gun and were the backbone of the long range desert operation.
Looks good in that “desert color”.
I remember reading about the DAF Trado kit from the thirties. It was a kit to convert a factory Ford or Chevrolet 4×2 into a 6×4 or 6×6 for army use.
Like this Ford V8.
what the LRDG used in the North African desert
For those in the US, who didn’t hear much of anything about what the Brits and Commonwealth troops did in the war, the LRDG was the Long Range Desert Group.
Jeeps mounting machine guns were favored by the Special Air Service, (SAS) which remains an elite Brit commando force to this day.
Kiwi ingenuity produced the LRDG Chev above they tried the Jeep but it proved too small and converted 3tonners became the answer there are more pics of it on the cohort showing armament and fuel load
Arguably the biggest key to the allied victory in WWII was America’s industrial might. The war wasn’t just won on the battlefields, on the seas and in the air. It was won at Willow Run where Ford built B-24s, in Toledo where Willys built Jeeps, in Oakland where Kaiser built Liberty ships, in Pittsburgh’s steel mills, and in other factories across the country.
The soldiers had to do the bombing, shelling and fighting, but they were well equipped. The German Army, despite its propaganda, was only lightly mechanized, and became less so as the war went on; the WWII U.S. Army was the first army in history with enough motorized transport to haul all its troops and supplies.
Plus, through lend-lease, American factories supplied hundreds of thousands of vehicles to the Soviet, British, Free Polish and Free French armies as well. Studebaker deuce-and-a-halfs were the backbone of Soviet supply lines, and the French took to the Dodge 3/4 ton family so well they put their own copies in production after the war.
And as a childhood resident of Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley, thanks for the shout-out on the mills.
Although Oakland has a port and was the site of Kaiser HQ, I believe all Kaiser-built Liberty ships were made in Richmond, California. Close to Oakland but in the neighboring county. There’s now a small national Historic Monument there commemorating the location. Thanks Paul and Robert for linking our CC passions with our country’s greater heritage on this day..
IMHO when the Germans invaded Russia was the moment that allied victory became assured (in europe). But by that I dont mean to belittle or denigrate the effort in the West.
This is the first memorial day since my dad passed, and as I recently went through his possessions I found some amazing treasures. I have a shadow box with all his honors and medals. He was a paratrooper in the 82nd Pathfinders in WW2. I found a copy of the book “The Longest Day” by Cornelius Ryan. In the picture section after page 160 is a photo of him and his group in front of the C47 that flew him to Normandy. He is in the front row, the second person from the right. I always wondered where that picture came from, I wish I had the ability to post it. He told me his parachute got snagged on a church steeple, but he was able to swing into the bell tower and found some priest robe and was able to capture some German’s by hiding his rifle under it. It was late in his life when he would finally tell some of what he actually went through, the one that sticks in my mind was one time as he landed in his parachute he saw a German solder with his rifle aimed at him, as he lifted his rifle the clip fell out but there was a round in the chamber and he fired. He looked up to see the German still standing with his rifle aimed at him, but the top of his head was gone. I found a European-African Middle Eastern WW2 Victory Commemorative, Battle of the Bulge, Combat Service, Air Combat Action, Presidential Unit Citation, D Day WW2, Purple Heart, Silver Star and others on his box I don’t recognize. He died at age 90, last November and I am leaving now to go to Mt Scott and the Willamette National Cemetery to visit him and Mom who died in 2010. They are now together once again. As the memory of these men and what they did for the world slips away, I believe this is the last war America had any business being in and I am sad to see what the world has degenerated into today. That you, all who served in every war or whatever term has been used in protecting America.
The last line was mistyped. Thank you, all who served in every war or whatever term to describe a conflict in protecting America.
The General Motors assembly plant in NZ was converted to wartime use it served as the repair shop for Pacific based equipment, the allies could not afford to just dump their expensive military equipment when it broke so it was shipped back and rebuilt no matter who originally built it GM Trentham rebuilt it.
Many a kiwi in the 60s who pulled their oil burning flathead Ford down to re-ring the motor was surprised to find 7 standard sized pistons and one oversize oops ex army motor rebuilt as required no more. After a week at Trentham as a serving soldier was deemed a motor mechanic and issued with paperwork saying so.
Great picture, Robert. I join most of the rest of you in taking my hat off for the veterans today.
It is harder to win the peace than to win the war. With WWII and the time after WWII America managed to win both. There are millions of people who lost the war and are now thankful to the American and Allied forces. Europe would not be what it is if it were not for the Americans to clean up that mess.
Thank you!!!
Today I took my 88 year old father down to a Memorial Day Ceremony aboard the USS Hornet along with my son and his newest grandson. While down there he meets Ed who was on board the USS San Francisco when Pearl Harbor was attacked. On board when she was eventually put out of action after the Battle of Guadalcanal and returned to Mare Island. He was then transferred to be part of the first crew on the new USS Hornet CV-12. Boy the guy can talk!
The benediction was given by a 94 year old Navy Chaplin, Commander Berger, retired. While there a short talk is given by a writer on the China National Aviation Company. On hand is one of the companies first pilots, Mr. Moon at 101 years old. He looked damn good. His place in history came about when he was flying the DC-3 out of China to India as the Japanese overran Southeast Asia. He started one such flight on June 4th 1942 with six passengers composed of five civilians and one dusty looking Army Major. On the way out he diverted to Myitkyina in Burma. The Army Major asked him if he knew that the base had been taken by the Japanese as he was concerned. They hadn’t given the radio request. He landed and took on a total of 72 passengers on a DC-3. Major asked if he knew he was overloaded and Mr. Moon said no and that his plane can handle that many. They made it safely to India.
Afterwards I had to ask him when he finally knew that the Army Major was Jimmy Doolittle who was wanted by the Japanese. My father US Army Signal Corps from April 17, 1943 to March 1946 in New Guinea, Leyte, Lingayan Gulf, Manila and Yokohama.
Robert, thank you for this picture.
Despite, or perhaps due to, my age (41), I have been lucky enough to meet someone who was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and another person who was in the first wave to land at Omaha Beach. Both told stories that were captivating and almost beyond comprehension. It is true; there are times when if you have to ask, you still wouldn’t understand.
Luckily, my grandfather “Albert” – himself a WWII vet and who I have mentioned in a handful of articles – is still going strong physically and mentally at age 90. It’s only been within the last twenty-five years he has started to talk about the war, with the details becoming much more in-depth as time continued. I believe he has been more forthcoming to me than he has been to nearly anyone else.
The world can be a very ugly place and I do thank all veterans for what they have given of themselves.
With all due respect to all the veterans being mentioned here (and there’s a lot due, by the way), we’d all do well to remember that Memorial Day is more intended for the ones who didn’t live to become veterans.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
I know the poem is mostly for those lost in WWI, particularly British forces (as WWI had a much more profound effect on British identity more than perhaps any other single event), but it seems to be one of the most thoughtful and deliberate tributes to any war dead I’ve seen in my admittedly very short life so far.
Thats the prayer used on ANZAC day to remember those that fought at Gallipoli the Aussie and Kiwi soldiers that landed on the peninsular to fight the Turks it was a bloodbath.
+1
My late Dad was the only survivor of a squad of 14. He often wondered why he was the only one. He was half dead when found, but lived to fight another day. When he was discharged, the doctor’s told him with his injuries he would never live to age 50. He died at age 90. If not for those who died serving with him, I would not be here today.
I am very proud of my father. He enlisted with the Army Air Corps when the USA joined the war in WWII and became a Navigator, then Bomber Pilot, then Senior Pilot. He was shot down over Belgium and protected by a farmer and his family. Dad was a three war vet, serving in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Lufthansa tried to hire him after Korea, but couldn’t tempt him away from the USAF. He retired in 1972. He lived to fly!
He died five years ago of COPD and Alzheimer’s disease and I miss him every day. His wife, partner, and true love for 54 years, my Mother is in assisted living at 90 years old.
Thank you for your service to our country, Mom and Pop!
The picture is a reminder of how war takes away the everyday things people take for granted.
I have retired Air Force family that now works for the GSA. We found out Memorial Day that he will have to return to Afghanistan yet again to work on equipment disposition. It’s a six month stint away from his family.
We should all be thankful for our military and military support families.
I’ve read that Ford made cars and trucks for the Nazis during the war from the Ford plants in Europe. Supposedly Ford America had nothing to do with it during this time but I’ve also read that wasnt true.
Anyone have any more info?
I was lucky enough to have been raised and taught mostly by WWII Veterans ,I give thanks daily to them and all Veterans before and after them , life in these United States would not be possible but for them .
Keith , Dave , Uncle Bill & more , you’ll never , ever be forgotten thank you for everything .
-Nate
I wonder if the writers of that clip in the show have ever heard of Opel, or Ford-Werke GmbH?
I’m sure Germans were well familiar with General Motors and Ford at the time.