Reservists prepare to get underway, April, 1973

While I was attached to the U.S. Naval Reserve Unit in Waterloo, Iowa, in the early 1970's I had the great pleasure of taking part in the restoration and operation of a 1945 GMC DUKW.

Our DUKW had not been shipped overseas and when the war ended was eventually sent to Govt. Surplus. In 1955 it became the property of the local Civil Defense organization. The vehicle sat unused for a number of years, next to a fire station, when in the spring of 1973, the county Civil Defense director contacted the Naval Reserve unit to see if we would be interested in restoring and using it. As a senior enlisted member of the unit, I became involved in the negotiations.

From an official standpoint, the US Navy was not interested in owning or maintaining this piece of equipment. There was, however, a certain degree of interest in obtaining this vehicle for training and public affairs purposes. (As a land-locked reserve unit of 75-80 former fleet sailors, we could tolerate only so much classroom training.)

A private "club" was organized, which was later incorporated as non-profit. This non-profit club then took possession of the title to the DUKW, obtained auto insurance, motor vehicle license plates, and proceeded to restore the vehicle. We solicited members from the reserve unit and collected dues. It was from these dues and other donations, that the fees and expenses were paid.

The vehicle was in rough shape when we got it. It was complete and original. It even had the fender skirts, air hubs, and original tires on bullet proof rims. The air compressor and all aux gear boxes worked along with the 2 bilge pumps. The speedometer and tach worked, as did the tire air gauges and tire pressure manifold. When we pumped the air hubs full of grease, they held air, allowing us to control tire inflation pressures form the cab.

We had no manual or instructions other than the dash plates. The steering wheel was intact and in good shape. We were able to get the engine running and the brakes repaired. I overhauled the Zenith carburetor, replaced the battery, and we were pretty much ready to go. Even the winch worked. We eventually repainted the outside of the hull and installed a brush guard around the prop since we would be using it mostly in the river that ran through town. We got the running lights working, found some life jackets and a fire extinguisher, and had the vehicle inspected and registered with the Conservation Commission as a boat.

Waiting for a parade to start, Sept, 1974

Routine operations for us usually involved warm sunny-day trips a mile or so from the Reserve Center to the public boat ramp at the river. We would load up, drive to the river, drive down the ramp and cruise the river for an hour or so. This is a vehicle with 5 forward gears, and aux, output levers for 2 wheel drive or all wheel drive, high or low range, propeller engaged or not, and the winch.   With no instructions to help us, we had to learn through trial and error the best combination of speed and gears to enter and leave the water.

The public boat ramp was divided into two ramps, separated by a center pier. It entered the river on the main channel with a strong cross current. In order get enough power to the wheels to drive up the ramp and out of the river, we found it necessary to have the wheels engaged in granny low gear, low range, while our best water cruising was with the propeller engaged in second gear high range and the wheels in neutral. I seem to recall the engine RPM red line was around 2750.

In order to deal with a strong cross current it was necessary to have the DUKW approach the ramp at maximum water speed to get the necessary momentum to lift the unit out of the water. If we were not going fast enough or stalled, when the front wheels grabbed the ramp the current would push the aft end down stream and we would be jammed sideways between the sides of the ramp.

Using the public boat ramp while river flooding, April, 1973

To overcome this we would position ourselves mid channel about 70-80 yards out and slightly upstream to begin our approach and allow us to build up our speed. As we got about 10 yards form the ramp we passed the point of no returnwhere we would be to close to stop or turn away. We would be going as fast as we could with the transmission in second high to the prop and the wheels in neutral. Approximately five yards from the ramp, the driver would press down the clutch, let off gas, shift to granny low and engage the wheels in all wheel low range then let out the clutch and stand on the gas. All of this was done while steering against the cross current at full speed, closing in on a ramp that was only about a foot and a half wider that the DUKW on either side. Because the rudder and front wheels were turned to the right to compensate for the cross current and hold a straight line of approach, the steering wheel needed to be turned back to straight as the front wheels grabbed ramp.

What an adventure. I loved it.  When we would hit the dock, OUCH!

When it worked, however, what a feeling - what a sight!

On weekends in the summer the boat ramp would become very busy. There would always seem to be a line of boats and trailers waiting to use the ramp. This wasn't so bad when we launched, as it was easy for the operator to drive into the water and boat away down river. Coming out was a different story completely. As I have described above the last thing we needed was for a boater to start backing his trailer down the ramp after we had passed the point of no return. To prevent this, on busy days, we would have a crew member block and hold the ramp for us. One day when it was my turn to hold the ramp I asked a boater who wanted to back down the ramp to wait while we got our DUKW out. He looked out to the channel and of course it looked like a big barge coming toward us. He looked around the parking area and asked where our trailer was. I explained that the trailer was built in. Was he surprised when it lifted straight up out of the water and drove up the ramp and over to the parking area!

We used that DUKW as much as we could over the next 3 years. We were constantly fixing it and trying to improve it. We had a flat aluminum roof fabricated for the cab area and I modified an old army jeep canvas top for side curtains and a roll up back for the cab. We obtained a surplus duce and a half canvas cargo cover with wooden bows and fold down seats. This fit into the stake pockets in the cargo area without modification and gave us foul weather protection in addition to seating when we took passengers for rides, as we often did.

One of our most popular activities was to take part in small town parades. I would drive the duck the 20 to 50 miles to the town, then reserve members in uniform would "Man the Rail" during the parade. In the summers of 1973-1974 we took part in small town celebration parades, one or two times a month.  Sometimes we even arranged for local businesses to sponsor us with gas and expense money in return for displaying advertising signs.

In late 1975 interest in the club had dropped off and my friends and I felt we could no longer support the DUKW. The club was disbanded and the DUKW was sold to a collector from St. Louis. The proceeds were donated to charity.

In 1976 I received orders for two weeks active duty in the base security unit at the U.S.N. Amphibious Base, Coronado Island, San Diego, Calif. This base is a training facility for Marine landing operations, and had a transportation unit of LARKs. These were the amphibious vehicles that replaced the DUKWs in the military, and were propelled by a diesel engine through hydraulic motors at the wheels. They were also much bigger than the DUKW, being as I recall 10 feet wide. I became acquainted with another senior enlisted sailor who was affiliated with this unit. He took me to the beach early one morning during training operations and I was invited to ride out into the surf and back on one of their LARKs. As I recall, the sailors assigned to it complained of the difficulties in maintaining the complex hydraulic systems necessary to propel these units.

Since then I occasionally have had an opportunity to ride on one of the commercial units, most recently the DC Ducks in Washington DC.

I have also collected a series of 8, 1950's color and black and white photo postcards of the Wisc. Dells Ducks, including this shot of 14 DUKWs lined up in a parking lot, with each driver standing on the engine lid of his unit.

Let me know what you think: mailto:nookcran@consolidated.net