The GMC CCKW

I have been around this hobby for about as long as most, and I never heard a WWII or Korean era Veteran refer to the CCKW as "Deuce and a Half". "CCKW" "Jimmy" "Six By", or "Two and a Half Ton" was the term. Now I am hearing another word coming from the new breed of collectors, it seems to have come from the Fire Departments up here in Maine. The word is "Battle Switch". A guy named Jim was the third or fourth to spring it on me. I grilled him with "where in Hell did you come up with that one", and "what happens when the Battle Switch is on, does the truck get in its killer mode" ? "Battle Switch" is the term used by some Fire Departments up in the Maine woods for the GI headlight Switch . I think a trip or two, once in a while into towns with traffic lights, paved roads, and flush toilets, will be good for them.

That is a new term on me, Joel. I had always heard the CCKW's referred to as Jimmy's or 6x6's but never deuce and a half. That was a term we used in Viet Nam, but I don't know where it came from.Probably used to distinguish the truck from the 5 and 10 tons, and of course there were more than one manufacurer of the M-35 so it fit.
Growing up in North Louisiana a lot of old CCKW's were used in the oilfield and on farms and we all called the Jimmy's.