Convoy of military’s past hits Nelson

A convoy of vintage military vehicles up to 70 years old rolled through Nelson on Wednesday as part of a tour of the B.C. interior.

John Hawthorne of the Western Command Military Vehicle Historical Society says the privately-owned trucks visited Legion branches in the Okanagan and West Kootenay after participating in a parade in Penticton on Sunday.

“We brought everything from World War II right up to the 1980s,” he says. “Some of the vehicles these old veterans drove.”

That was the case in Trail, where the Legion president recognized a 1944 Canadian military 1500 weight truck as the one he took driver training on.

Hawthrone says these sorts of vehicles are typically found rusting in farmers’ fields and club members “take them home, chase all over the country for parts, and restore them. It’s a hobby, just like guys with sports cars, but we have old army trucks.”

Many are former military men, but some aren’t. Some own one vehicle, others many. Hawthorne, a Richmond resident who retired after 25 years in the army, has about 20. On this tour, he brought along a 1941 K18 communications truck.

Other vehicles in the convoy included a 1950s ambulance, a Reynolds-Boughtin RB44 used in Iraq, and a restored 1944 field artillery tractor towing an ammunition trailer. The latter is one of about 20 preserved in Canada, although most are in museums. Both Hawthorne and Major Ian Newby, the club’s president, figure they served with the regiment it once belonged to.

There was also a Vietnam-era jeep, which Canada bought 2,500 of from the U.S. in 1974. Although subsequently ordered destroyed, some survived through surreptitious means.

While a few vehicles saw duty in Europe and elsewhere, Hawthorne says it was usually more cost effective to leave them there, “so for the most part these were used on bases in Canada to train soldiers prior to going overseas.”

The historical society, headquartered in Vancouver, is a chapter of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association, and has members throughout the Lower Mainland and interior.

The convoy also stopped this week in Grand Forks, Salmo, Castlegar, and Trail.