1942: A Pivotal Milestone for Dodge Trucks Used Extensively as Ambulances During World War II

1942: A Pivotal Milestone for Dodge Trucks Used Extensively as Ambulances During World War II

October 23, 1942

Nearly eleven months after the United States entered World War II, the U.S. Army adopted a standardized design for the trucks that served as the main field ambulances for the Allies for the remainder of that global conflict.  The Dodge WC-54 ¾ ton (.68 metric ton) truck was used to transport wounded and sick personnel in all military theatres from 1942 to the end of the war in 1945.

 A total of 22,857 of these vehicles were outfitted as ambulances during that time. The military services using the WC-54 included the U.S. Army Medical Corps, the British Royal Army Medical Corps, and the Free French Forces. The olive-green trucks could travel as fast as 54 miles (86.9 kilometers) per hour and each had room for a driver, a medic, and up to 10 casualties — six of them seated, and another four lying down on fold-away stretchers. 

Other distinguishing features of the WC-54 included having “ambulance” spelled out just above the windshield, with small images of the Geneva Red Cross on a white panel at each end of the word. The accompanying photo of one of these vehicles was taken at Newport News, Virginia, in May 1943.

Along with serving as ambulances, a small portion of the trucks were equipped with large antennas and field radios in order to function as mobile means of communications in various combat zones. After the war, the U.S. Army provided thousands of the trucks to countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Denmark, and Norway under a lend-lease arrangement; many of those vehicles remained in use through the 1960s. In addition, the U.S. Army Medical Corps found itself using some of the trucks as ambulances again during the Korean War.         

In more recent decades, several surviving WC-54s across the United States have been restored and repurposed. An example of this was reported in 1997 by Mike Livington in an article in The State, a newspaper in the city of Columbia in central Missouri. Livington wrote about how Columbia resident Larry Shea unexpectedly came across one of those vehicles.

“My wife and I were headed for St. Louis one day, and I saw an old Army ambulance sitting out in a field,” recounted Shea. “It was painted white, the windows were broken out, the tires were bald, a lot of parts were missing, and it had a Volkswagen gas tank with a hose running to the engine.” Shea subsequently purchased this WC-54 from its owner. “Shea has rebuilt and painted the ambulance to fine form,” according to Livingston. It is registered and insured as antique. Therefore, he can’t take it on road trips, but he can use it for displays, parades or to drive around his 20-acre [8.1-hectare] farm.”

Another example was highlighted by Guy Clifton in an article that he wrote for the Reno-Gazette Journal in 2014. In this article, Clifton reported on a WC-54 that was donated to the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System’s Reno VA Medical Center during the 1970s and had fallen into disrepair over the years. About a dozen soldiers from the Nevada National Guard, however, took the time and effort to restore the vehicle.  

“Restored Ambulance is Tribute to Veterans,” announced the headline accompanying that Reno-Gazette Journal article. Clifton noted, “With youngsters from nearby Veterans Memorial Elementary School, hospital personnel and Nevada National Guardsmen forming a welcome line, the VA’s newly restored 1942 Army ambulance was wheeled into the circular driveway at the VA Medical Center by soldiers from the Nevada National Guard base in Carson City.”

Lisa Howard, acting director of the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System at the time, confirmed that this renovated WC-54 would be available for use in parades and other commemorative events. “It’s a shared resource, as far as I’m concerned,” said Howard. “I’d really like it to be out there and spreading the history and education of World War II.” She added, “What better way to do that than his beautifully restored ambulance?”

Photo Credit: Public Domain

For more information on the Dodge WC-54 ¾ ton truck, please check out https://www.nationalww2museum.org/visit/museum-campus/us-freedom-pavilion/vehicles-war/dodge-wc-54-ambulance and http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/w/wayne/wayne.htm

A video of this vehicle can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOpL3f1hgZc