Were Jeeps Peeps?

[aculeus]

Early in WWII as a young civilian teenager I was corrected by a relative
who was a US soldier when I called a US Army one-quarter-ton truck what
it is now (almost) universally called, a "jeep". No, that's a "peep"
said the soldier. A "jeep" he explained, was the next larger vehicle
(what while serving in the US Army I learned to call a three-quarter ton
truck.)

Recently I had a conversation with a veteran of a WWII US Armored
Division, a retired officer who in relating a particular war-time
incident to me used the term "peep" to refer to what almost everyone
else calls a "jeep."

Can anyone explain? Was "peep" peculiar to armor?

James Graham

[Miktb]

James

According to the "Victory Division News" which is 5th Armored Division veterans
newsletter, refering to "jeeps" as "peeps" was common to armored division
soldiers. In fact this was a point of pride and distinguished them from their
infantry brethren.

Mike Burk

[Lee Russell]

>Can anyone explain? Was "peep" peculiar to armor?

Yes it was. It was what the Armored Corps chose to call what everyone else
called a "jeep". I had not heard "jeep" used for the Dodge Weapons
Carrier. The term "jeep" was also briefly applied to an AAF aircraft
tractor and to 1940 Selectees in Basic Training.

[GDWepoche]

I thought "jeep" originated as a corruption of "peep", inspired by a
character from the Popeye comic strip.

[David R Brooks]

gdwe...@aol.com (GDWepoche) wrote:

:
: I thought "jeep" originated as a corruption of "peep", inspired by a

:character from the Popeye comic strip.

As I heard, it was from the letters GP: General Purpose.

-- Dave Brooks <http://www.iinet.net.au/~daveb>
PGP public key via <http://www.iinet.net.au/~daveb/crypto.html>, or servers

[warrink]

I thought the Dodge weapons carrier was referred to as the "Beep"

-Rutger Warrink

aculeus wrote:

> Early in WWII as a young civilian teenager I was corrected by a relative
> who was a US soldier when I called a US Army one-quarter-ton truck what
> it is now (almost) universally called, a "jeep". No, that's a "peep"
> said the soldier. A "jeep" he explained, was the next larger vehicle
> (what while serving in the US Army I learned to call a three-quarter ton
> truck.)
>
> Recently I had a conversation with a veteran of a WWII US Armored
> Division, a retired officer who in relating a particular war-time
> incident to me used the term "peep" to refer to what almost everyone
> else calls a "jeep."
>

> Can anyone explain? Was "peep" peculiar to armor?
>

> James Graham

[Walt Eldredge]

Lee Russell wrote in message <6usi4a$o...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>...

>>Can anyone explain? Was "peep" peculiar to armor?
>

>Yes it was. It was what the Armored Corps chose to call what everyone else
>called a "jeep".

In the book "Up Front", Bill Mauldin used the term "peep". He was with the
45th Infantry, so the usage went beyond armor. I was tols by a L/C in the
CWS, also attached to the 45th in Sicily, that they used "peep" and "jeep"
to refer to the same vehicle; i.e. the Willie's 1/4 ton 4x4.

[ArtKramr]

>From: "Walt Eldredge" <Wa...@worldnet.att.net>

>In the book "Up Front", Bill Mauldin used the term "peep". He was with the
>45th Infantry, so the usage went beyond armor. I was tols by a L/C in the
>CWS, also attached to the 45th in Sicily, that they used "peep" and "jeep"
>to refer to the same vehicle; i.e. the Willie's 1/4 ton 4x4.

I called my Jeep a Jeep. But I did hear guys say that they were really peeps.
But I still callled it a Jeep. (grin)

Arthur
344th Bomb Group, 494th Bomb Squadron, 9th Air Force
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany

"In solemn salute to those thousands of our comrades -great, brave men that
they were- for whom there will be no homecoming, ever."

Ernie Pyle

[c s kemmerer]

aculeus wrote:
> Can anyone explain? Was "peep" peculiar to armor?>

> James Graham

FWIW, Ralph Ingersoll in "The Battle Is the Pay-off" (1943, Harcourt,
Brace and Co.) refers to "jeeps" as "peeps" throughout his book -
mentioning for instance:

"When the peeps, whose drivers don't believe any terrain can stop them,
tried to ford the streams, as often as not they would be washed
downstream, turned over, rolled and wrecked."

Ingersoll was a captain in the engineers, fighting around El Guettar in
early (just post-Kasserine) 1943.

Comments?

csk

--
- Christopher Kemmerer - [c...@nospam.phoenix.net] --------------------

"A ship on the beach is a lighthouse to the shore."

[Cunninghams]

I believe a Peep was a specially adapted jeep meant to be amphibious.

Malcolm Cunningham

c s kemmerer wrote in message <6vg0ke$i...@dgs.dgsys.com>...