I see on a lot of gun trucks with the front of the hood painted yellow. I have seen a few non-gun-trucks with the yellow on the nose too. What does this signify?
I believe a certain unit in Vietnam used the "yellow nose" so that the unit commander could find his trucks from the air. Something like that, I'm sure someone here knows the details.
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The yellow nose is a distinctive feature of all trucks in 8th Trans Grp. The distinctive yellow stripes were employed to help the commanders orbiting above in helicopters identify which units convoy he was looking down at, so they marked them all...
As an example, notice the shots of the M37.
The shot with the spare tire taken in 1970 Camp Addison (Chrang Valley) the Highlands, Vietnam. Notice that it had the spare mounted on the driver's door. The shot without the spare tire over the driver's door was taken at Phu Bai, Vietnam 1971, near 523rd Trans Company orderly room. During Lam Son 719 (heavy combat) in early 1971 the spare was removed so the driver could exit the vehicle during ambushes.
BTW: I pulled the M37 shots and the caption info from Ralph Fuller's post on the G503... He also stated that in '71 that they were still part of the 8th Group and kept the yellow noses on all of the trucks while assigned to the 26th Group.
I think it was the 8th transportation group. I'm not 100%, but i'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong. It was for identification purposes though.
You guys are right on---The yellow noses were indeed so the 8th group commander could see his convoys from the air (all trucks), that was done in mid 69, then in early 70 (at least in the 523rd) we added another little rally stripe behind the yellow nose---There was also a outfit up in Chu Li that added white noses to their trucks for the same reason, they were a quartermaster unit, one such unit was B Co. 23rd S&T---The Gathering was a huge success, next year will only be bigger and better---keep us in mind, it'd be great to have some of your vehicles in convoy with us.--------Driver
If you want to know something about Vietnam Gun Trucks, Driver is your man.
Uncle Meat was an 8th Group yellow nosed truck assigned to the 523rd Transportation Company. Transferredd to the 26th Group for Lam Son 719 when they went North, the truck kept the yellow nose.
In 1972, the U.S. Army Security Agency, 8th Radio Research Field Station at Phu Bai, inherited three gun trucks. Their primary duty was perimeter security. Uncle Meat is in the middle with a red/white/blue nose.
Sorry to be off topic but gun trucks are just wicked awesome. Wish I could attend the gathering. Next time I visit my sister in the tidewater area, I'm going to Ft Eustis so I can see and hopefully get someone to let me touch Eve of Destruction. Shivers running down my spine.
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This Steel Soldier Honors the Living Memory of David Frankenhauser, 1954-2009.
May you Sail in the Grace of Our Lord, Chaplain!
“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16.
If I ever get withing 4 hrs I will check that out. Where will next years Gathering be? I need to plan. Wonder if we could coax Ron into driving it down to the FL rally in Feb?
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3 Trucks
4 Trailers
This Steel Soldier Honors the Living Memory of David Frankenhauser, 1954-2009.
May you Sail in the Grace of Our Lord, Chaplain!
“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16.
What does the "yellow nose" mean?
