"Duck Boats Offered a Unique Solution to a WW II Problem" Topic

"Duck boats are a U.S. tourist attraction that have unfortunately seen several high-profile accidents (the most recent killed 17 people on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri). Yet before they were a controversial tour vehicle, the Allied troops during World War II used them to get artillery, supplies and even soldiers ashore.

DUKW boats made their first appearance in combat during the 1943 invasion of Sicily known as Operation Husky. The name "DUKW" corresponded to General Motors' manufacturing code ("D" is "1942 model," "U" is "amphibious," "K" is "all-wheel drive," and "W" is "dual rear wheels"). Soldiers simplified this by calling them "ducks."

Like actual ducks, these boat-trucks with wheels looked a little awkward. But their weird design is what allowed troops to drive the vehicles from water onto land—a crucially important task, according to Joseph Balkoski, historian of the Maryland National Guard and author of several books on military history…"
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Amicalement
Armand

My dad, an Army interpreter, spent some time with dukws during WW2 Didn't love driving them.

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

The DUKWs were amazing vehicles. They could transport more men and more cargo than the classic Deuce-and-a-Half trucks (on which they were based) PLUS, they were amphibious. They really should have been produced in much greater numbers but because they were "neither fish nor fowl" neither the Army or the Navy was terribly interested in them.