Don’t You Want to be a Jeep-O? inquires the headline from an August, 1943 issue of Barksdale’s Bark, the newspaper of Barksdale Field, now Barksdale Air Force Base. The Barksdale Field “Jeep-O” program was officially sanctioned by Base Commander William B. Wright, Jr. earlier that month.
By signing up to be a member of the “Jeep-O” program and affixing to their windshield a yellow sticker designating this membership in Barksdale’s share–a–ride club, even a civilian with no special skills or tools (besides an automobile!) could help the GIs at Barksdale during wartime. This assistance was critical because with World War II raging overseas, the personnel strength had doubled at Barksdale Field, and local public transportation was bursting at the seams.
Every driver who pledged to give a soldier a ride received a Jeep-O sticker for their car windshield. Wherever a Jeep-O driver happened to be headed, if it was in the same general direction of an on-base soldier wanting to get to town, or a married soldier trying to return home from the base during rush hour when there weren’t enough seats on city buses, a mere “civie” or civilian, (as well as other soldiers or official military chauffeurs with empty seats) could do their part and offer a ride…