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This photo of my father & motorcycle was taken somewhere in Italy.

Maybe Anzio area? The scan doesn't show how enormous the pile of

rumble is. In the actual photo, it's HUGE.

Don't know anything about WWII motorcycles. There's a star in a circle on it - does that mean anything?

Here ya go. We have a few posts regarding the Harleys the guys rode during the war.

http://208.109.212.45/forum/index.php?show...p;hl=motorcycle

Thanks for sharing that photo. My gosh, look at all that stuff piled up. My gramps got to help clean all that up :-)

Cool photo. The star in a circle marks U.S. Allied vehicles in part to avoid "friendly" air attacks. It didn't always work.

Just ask the guys shwacked during Operation Cobra.

Just ask the guys shwacked during Operation Cobra.

NEVER SAW A MOTORCYLE WHERE I WAS AT.

DID THEY HAVE A SIDECAR ?? IN the pic. I noticed the scabbard but

no piece in it. The scrap pile in back had to be the port of, Anzio,?

I quess they wore leggings back there.

CaptO--God be with you on your next assignment. Roque

After Anzio on the way to Rome, the 3d ID suffered casualties when they got bombed by fighter planes with stars plainly visible on their wings. The ground soldiers had stars plainly displayed on their vehicles.

If our fighter jocks couldn't tell the silhouette of American equipment from 500M, I'm not sure how they would see an 8 inch star on gas tank of a moving motorcycle on the inside of some guy's legs!

On the other side of things, the "invasion stripes" put on planes at Normandy was a result of getting our planes getting blasted by ground troops in Sicily and other places by GI's nervous about LuftWaffe attacks.

(Un)friendly fire, I'm afraid can go both ways. Now-a-days there isn't much confusion from the ground to air side as anywhere we fought in recent years we have had air supremecy. Air to ground side, however, I am sad to say there are still incidents. How you can mistake a Marine AAVP7 for anything other than a Marine AAVP7 is beyond me. Here are some info about the AAVP7. On a side note, the Army's new Styker vehicle looks a lot like a BTR and the new Marine AAAV (Advanced Amphibious Vehicle - not yet fielded) bears an unfortunate resemblance to a BMP.

Stryker

BTR

AAAV

BMP

M1! thanks so much for the motorcycle link! I especially love the photos in the "WLAs in Action In WW2" section. Great photos of MPs & their bikes. LOVE the photo of MP Pvt Zimmerman supervising Army traffic near St Lo. Those bikes sure had alot of stuff attached to them : "a M1928 Meat Can pouch is attached to the rear fender". What's a "meat can pouch"?

They also say : "note the position of the star behind the shifter gate on the gas tank".

The best part of the photo is the sign made out of a cardboard carton: "DAMN IT! USE SIGNALS!" :rolleyes:

Whenever I see stuff like that - all I can think is: GOD BLESS THOSE GUYS! They are why we won the war. :14_2_107:

http://www.theliberator.be/liberator3.htm

Capt O - you're right! I can't imagine that the star on the gas tank gave anybody a feeling of security that they wouldn't be shot at by our own guys. I know my Dad was strafed, but it was by the Krauts not us.

On a personal note - I'd recognize my father in that photo even if I couldn't see his face. I'd know him right away just by seeing his hands. One of the last things he said to me was: "We have exactly the same hands, dear." Indeed that's true - identical - except mine are a smaller version.

Also - Frank may've ridden Harleys in WWII, but there'd be no more of THAT after he married Helen Cole! His daring gave her enough heart palpitations when he had both feet firmly on the ground!