Joe-in-Mesa’s daughter’s boyfriend’s father (way to suck him in Joe!) took this photo of a 1943 GPW dedicated to the memory of the Echeverria Field near Wickenburg, Arizona, and donated to the Wickenburg VFW. Obviously, it’s not a perfectly restored vehicle, but it does help provide a tangible memory for VFW visitors.
Joe searched and found a few more photos online:
Here’s the VFW where the jeep is located, though Google did not capture the jeep outside:
Here is some location information about the air field. The location was not available via Google maps, so this is a hacked together location image:
1951 view of the former air field:
Some related links:
Their purpose is honorable, but a correct grill and matching wheels would help the presentation.
There were hundreds of military training airfields scattered all around Arizona during WWII and into the Korean conflict. Many are visible from main highways, and several of them are in very deserted areas. The state of Arizona owns many of them today.
Thanks for posting, Dave and thanks, Joanna Snodgrass for sending the first pic to me. I found “the rest of the story” great… but I did get a kick out of the “GPW (Government “Pigmy” Willy’s)” characterization :-)!