Where were all the M38s sent to?
Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 4:23 pm
Hi. I’ve read that very few M38s went to Korea so where did they go? Is there a database that shows how many went where maybe by registration number?
Keep in mind that we were in a new war 5 years after WWII ended. We mobilized and used what we had on hand. What we had for jeeps were 6 year old and older WWII jeeps. No where near the 600,000 built during WWII since we attritted a large portion of those during that war and transferred another large portion to surviving western countries at the end of the war as part of the postwar downsizing of our military. We had to rob WWII jeeps from our stateside units to keep the combat troops supplied with enough jeeps.I’ve read that very few M38s went to Korea so where did they go?
The Army knows it needs more jeeps and contracts with Willys to build the M38. These jeeps were very different from the MB's and GPW's. They were 24 V waterproof electrical, 7.00-16 tires instead of 6.00-16 tires, T90 instead of T86 transmissions and the Army's logistic system would not support the introduction of this new jeep in the battlefield environment so the bulk of the new M38's replaced the shortages in the stateside units.
No. We have been unable to locate any assignment data for the M38's and all their individual motor pool records were destroyed 6 months after each jeep was surplussed out.Is there a database that shows how many went where maybe by registration number?