Death Trucks

Trucks That Rain Death Upwards.  What a great tag line.   This vintage ad was found in a Time magazine from June of 1943.  Aside from the great illustration of the Half-Track flying off a mountain with guns blazing this WWII advertisement highlights some interesting facts of the day, many of which I had to turn to the oracle of all human knowledge for answer, Google.

On the right side of the ad we find a list of products manufactured by International.  Everything from prime movers to blood bank chests rolled out of Harvester factories across the country.  It’s a pretty diverse list.  But what about those flags with the giant E what does that mean?  Wikipedia to the rescue.  The Army-Navy E award was presented to a manufacturer that excelled at meeting wartime production goals.  Over the course of the program about 4% of companies dedicated to the war effort received this award.  Rightly so International was proud of the fact that four of its’ plants received this honor.

Farther down the logo for the U.S. Truck Conservation Corp is located.  Sounds neat but what exactly does it mean?  The answer to this one is little more cryptic.  Based on this ad and others like it the U.S. TCC was dedicated to keeping civilian trucks running(my best guess).  This was extremely important as absolutely no new trucks were made available for civilian uses during the war.  Trucks brought in for service during this time were provided with the highest level of care.  Nothing was over looked and any conceivable maintenance was taken to keep the truck on the road for as long as possible.  Remember, knowledge is power.  Click on the image below for a large version.