Carriers in U.S. Service

[Lynn Eades]

I note that the Jerry cans are marked "USMC" (United States Marine Corp" as apposed to the screw top ones which are normally marked "QMC" (Quarter Master Corp)
Did the Marines have their own spec, different from the U.S. Army?

[motto]

Hi Lynn
The standard American screw top jerrycans for the US Army had QMC stamped either side low down on early production cans but later went over to just the letters US or USA in the same place.
You also find the screw top cans with USMC in place of the QMC or US/A so it appears that after a flirt with the cam lock type the Marines went over to the same can as the Army but with their own markings.

The US Marine Corp being an arm of the US Navy had a separate procurement system to the Army and often followed an independent course. Hence their use of International 6x6 and 4x4 trucks as against the Army GMC CCKW and Dodge WC standard vehicles. The adoption of the Johnson automatic rifle was another deviation.

On the G503 forum there is an area that is devoted to Jerrycans or Gerrycans in all their bewildering varieties. There seems to be more questions than there are answers but a great deal is known about them.

David

[Andrew Rowe]

Hi Big D,
As far as I know, only Aussie carriers were stamp above the diff area.
Cheers
Andrew

[Big D]

Hi Andrew

Thanks for that. Do the rest of the photos and arrows look alright?

[Rob Beale]

Daryl,
The later NZ carriers were stamped on top of the front lifting eyes, so discard the photo of the back plate near your aerial bracket.

The photo of the front of your carrier should be modified with another arrow each side of the centre towing bracket, with the rear arrow deleted.

The pic inside the carrier of the gunners area should show the inside of the gunners slot too to see what gun mount was used.

Rob

[Lynn Eades]

Is the position of the ID plate another indicator?
The Australian built ones appear to all have them situated on the RF guard.
The New zealand ones are on the triangular top plate above the instrument cluster. Is this a point of difference between the Aust. and N.Z. carriers or are there differences on each side of the Tasman?

[Rob Beale]

The early Kiwi carriers had the plate on the track guard like the Australian ones.

In later production it was moved to the top of the hull and welded above the instrument cluster. This is possibly to stop loss of the plate.

I think the first 520 NZ carriers were all issued to home based units during the war. 3 NZ Div took some to Guadalcanal but found them unsuitable and converted the carrier platoon to infantry. Given that a number of C8AX puddle jumpers ended up in Australia as war surplus, it is possible that a carrier was left behind.

I have a picture of a field full of carriers and other vehicles brought back to NZ from the Pacific. These include LP, UC and 3" Mortar types

We know some of these were swapped to USMC, but where they went is unknown.

Also the ones sold to the US and given to the Free French in the Pacific were from the later ESGC contract for 650 LP2A.

So, yes, a photo of the plate on top of the instrument panel would help.

Rob