![](https://i0.wp.com/americancarhistorian.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/DSCN1723-4.jpg?fit=525%2C646&ssl=1)
This is a WWII GMC model DUCW, a 2.5-ton 6×6 amphibious vehicle that used six wheels on land and a propeller when in the water. Essentially sea-going trucks, they were crucial for ferrying supplies from ship to shore. The vehicles were naturally nicknamed Ducks, and Canadian war correspondent Dick Sanborn reported this incident in 1943:
During the invasion of Italy, when hundreds of ducks plied their way back and forth carrying anti-tank guns, mortars and ammunition across the Messina straits, a British destroyer raced cockily past one group. From the bridge twinkled a signal lamp in Morse. Deeply offended, the officer in charge of the ducks translated the message: “Quack, quack.”
![](https://i2.wp.com/americancarhistorian.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/103_0433-2-scaled.jpg?fit=525%2C435&ssl=1)
![](https://i2.wp.com/americancarhistorian.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/103_0437-3-1-scaled.jpg?fit=525%2C364&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/americancarhistorian.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/DSCN1724-3.jpg?fit=525%2C497&ssl=1)
Sources:
Sanborn, Dick. “Amphibian Wins Spurs in New Canadian Push.” The Winnipeg Tribune, 11 December 1943, p. 1.