Yesterday, 6 June, commemorated the 77th anniversary of D-Day, the largest seaborne invasion in history. D-Day began the liberation of German-occupied Normandy, France, and later Western Europe from Nazi control. More than 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches codenamed Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword, and Gold, carried by 7,000 boats. My father was amongst the Allied troops at Utah Beach.
D-Day laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
During World War II, Jeep became the primary light 4-wheel-drive vehicle of the U.S. Armed Forces. Although not known for sure, one theory is that “Jeep” is slang for the military designation for the “General Purpose” vehicle.
And Jeep was certainly general-purpose, performing every task imaginable during WWII.
As one historian noted:
“The spartan, cramped, and unstintingly functional Jeep became the ubiquitous World War II four-wheeled personification of Yankee ingenuity and cocky, can-do determination.”
Jeep, the precursor of subsequent generations of military light utility vehicles such as the Humvee, inspired the creation of civilian analogs, such as the original Series I Land Rover.
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