John Duresky

Attached are two photos I bought. First is from 1925, a photo seen in newspapers then along with other automobile magnates and their first automobiles. I believe this is the only photo in existence showing John N Willys in his first Overland car. Can anyone identify the exact model of this car? I am fairly certain it was taken in front of the Willys Overland headquarters. Second is just a panel delivery truck from a 1946 advertisement which happens to be the exact same model now highlighted in the center of a Jeep ad on their website.

Does anyone know why this never went into production? Seems like a good idea to me. I think if it were built now a person would just need to have it be an electric vehicle so it's Green. Granted, the charging time might be about a month. I bet the model was a hit at that auto show.

What? A car company exaggerating their claims? No way!

I purchased this wirephoto which shows a car boat made by George McLaughlin. There are a number of photos showing the car from the back, but this is the only one I've found showing it from the front. Attached are also old newspapers showing this front view and the rear view (in an article about aviation). The later article has more details about the construction and operation of the car. I assume that is George McLaughlin in the driver's seat.

Thanks gentlemen, I just sent this to the historian who posted that photo using a screen capture from YouTube to show the fewer louvers in the truck. Helps to nail the photo down to no older than 1932.

I am a member of the Corregidor Historic Society. This photo was recently posted and dated is simply given as prewar (i.e. before 1941). Can anyone possibly identify the car and truck in the upper LH corner of the photo which I've attached here magnified? This should considerably narrow down the date Thanks

Would anyone know roughly when these cars might be dated? I'm hoping the view and date might closely coincide with the attached newspaper article related to in our book. Thank you, John Duresky

Hi Peter, just sent the photos from my email johnduresky@hotmail.com Thanks

OK, here is one to really test you experts. I bought an extremely clear original photo from a seller in Japan taken maybe a day or two after Corregidor was surrendered by General Wainwright on May 6, 1942. Shows some details lost in other copies of this moment. On the left hand side you can even see groups of men up in the hills and it's easy to imagine them swapping stories about the battle they were just in to take Corregidor. I noticed two vehicles which were almost untouched by the bombing and shelling - a two door sedan and a woody station wagon. Vehicles had to have arrived on the island no later than December 8, 1941, because after that nothing was getting through the Japanese fleet around the islands. If the vehicles could be better identified by make and model we might be able to connect it to a list of owners of vehicles on Corregidor and find out the fate of the owner. In the Woody photo you can see someone sitting in the driver's seat, probably imagining driving it. Our book is doing OK for sales. We'll be remembering the men and women who served then at an event in 1LT Chester Britt's hometown on November 11, also the hometown of Dave Britt the author and myself. Thanks, John Duresky

Just had an idea. I'm working on our website to go along with the book. Slow going as I'm doing it when time allows. I've thought it would be interesting to have a tab called Planes Trains and Automobiles. I can handle the planes and trains Chester was on pretty well. Automobiles are a specialty, and really near and dear to the American heart. If anyone from AACA would like to do a summary of all the autos I've come across in Chester's life as a volunteer it would be greatly appreciated. This includes the cars he and his family owned, the car used by the Japanese as a kind of armed car, and even Gen Douglas MacArthur's car which was taken by the Japanese and as I understand it, was in the hold of the Oryoku Maru which was bombed and sunk in Subic Bay and from which Chester swam to shore. If someone wants to write to volunteer, it's first-come, first-volunteered and I can send you all I have from johnduresky@hotmail.com Would give all the credit for the summary to AACA and the volunteer.

That's pretty cool to know someone like that. Quite a few held out for a long time. The very last two to surrender did so in 1974. After the Japanese surrendered in Sept 1945 there was still some mopping up to do on different islands with some fanatical holdouts. Pretty remarkable jungle survival skills. The atom bombs were truly horrible weapons, but if we had needed to invade the Japanese home islands it would have been in incalculable bloodbath making the fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa look like picnics in comparison. For those who might not know it, Japan is a very mountainous country, very forested, and ideal for defense. Every mile that had to be taken would have cost hundreds or thousands of Allied and Japanese lives, and the bombing by B-29s and other planes would have been nonstop. America had about 60 carriers ready for the invasion, we had 3 for the battle of Midway.

Don't even need to go overseas. Go to almost any cemetery in any American city or town and you can find rows of white crosses and Stars of David showing the last resting place of so many veterans. Then of course you need to look into the stories of the individual men. That is the one good place to kneel for an American flag, but to kneel in appreciation and respect for all of them.

To all those who helped, thank you. We got our book published which you can find on Amazon The book this book details the life and too-early death in 1953 of Army 1st Lt Chester K Britt, and the men he served with, titled RELENTLESS HOPE - A True Story of War and Survival, by David L Britt (youngest son of Chester) with John Duresky (myself) and Vickie Graham printed copy ISBN 978-1-09838-539-2 Available on AMAZON and elsewhere. Covers his life from growing up in Wisconsin, combat on Bataan, the Bataan Death March, times as a POW, and life after the war until he died of a POW related illness in 1953. Couple antique (new then) car photos in the book, but I am working on our website which will have hundreds more photos and so by the end hope to have his life behind the wheel well documented. Thank you, John Duresky

Oops, I reread the diary entry and see it says "4 psngr" I guess I flunk CLASSIC CARS 101 That explains why when I went online to look for a photo of one on Google all I was seeing was two doors so I gave up trying to locate a four door.

Just found a better photo taken in the Philippines with the title "Augur's Chevy coupe parked at the end of an uncompleted bridge, Philippines taken by Augur."

Found a photo of the car, not very clear. Don't know if it was taken in the US or after it arrived in the Philippines.

I've posted some things and gotten help for information on cars related to 1LT Chester K Britt who was on the Bataan Death March. Just found a diary by 1LT Robert F Augur. He was wounded on Corregidor while manning an artillery battery, had part of a leg amputated, captured in Malinta tunnel after Corregidor fell on May 6, 1942, and was rescued on Feb 4, 1945, when the American Army liberated Bilibid prison in Manila. When he got home he participated in War Bond drives, a bona fide hero. In his diary as men did then, after he was captured he listed the items he had before the surrender for possible reimbursement later by the U.S. government. Among those I noticed he wrote, "Chevrolet Automobile (1940 Mstr Del 4 psngr Coupe)" That was shipped to Corregidor with him when he went there in February, 1941. See attached page. So, if anyone needs any replacement parts for their 1940 Chevrolet Master Deluxe 4 door coupe, you can go to Corregidor and look around and with some luck find the remains of it, however, it may not be in good condition due to nonstop shelling and bombing when the Japanese took over Corregidor, and nonstop bombing and shelling when the Americans came back to retake Corregidor, and sitting in the tropical climate for 78 years. Nothing that a little bondo won't fix.

Interesting story. I wonder if the back part of the story went something like this, "Hey, you, Kiwi, you want a car as a war souvenir?" Using your lead I did some searching. I'm guessing it's a 1937 or earlier model sedan based upon what seem to be gull wing type hood opening which seems to have largely disappeared from 1938 onwqrd and the way the headlights are attached as well. I see it has a split windshield, swept back fenders over the tires, and maybe some other things which would give a lot more clues than they do to an amateur like me. Doesn't help that of course it is camouflaged. Can't quite make out if there may be a small third window behind the two main side windows. In this larger image I blew up I think I can even make out the driver smiling for the camera while all of his buddies pose grimly.

OK, here is a real challenge for this group. I was at a military memorabilia store and picked up a 128 page pamphlet put out on May 1, 1942, by the War Department Military Intelligence Service about Japanese ground troops, etc. In there I found a reference to Japanese snipers which is relevant to a run-in Chester Britt had with a sniper on Bataan. However, it also happens to show a sedan camouflaged and made to look like a tank by the Japanese soldiers. Can anyone possibly identify this sedan? It's not every sedan that operated as a faux tank, and so I'm sure anyone who owns one of those sedans would get a kick out of that picture.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for all this expert information. I've passed it all on to my friend, Melisa, so her family history becomes a bit more detailed. One interesting little side note, the man I'm writing the WWII book about got his first ride in a plane in 1929 after winning a contest as a Boy Scout. He went up in a WACO biplane and now we have a PACO speedster. PACO meet WACO.

If so, that would place its model year around 1913~1914. Thanks

The photo with the flag on it was dated July 4, 1916, so the car must be from that year or earlier. Can certainly see the similarities with the PACO (which I had never heard of before).

Here's another cool car, looks like a doughboy from some point after WWI. I'm sure I was mistakenly born in the wrong decade. I was supposed to be born around 1900 so I could have been around when those cars were everywhere. Cars then were works of art, not they're just works of computer graphics.

Thanks Terry, in any case whoever did it was creative. John

Wow, was I ever off. Thanks much. Pretty cool car. Would it have been common to do that back then. In some photos they have that angled enclosed box (poor man's trunk I guess) on the back, and the photo of the guy with the buck slung over his shoulder it looks like an open pickup type box. In a day when aerodynamics weren't even considered, it has a fairly streamlined look.