DUCK Tours -- Then and Now

The DUKW (popularly pronounced DUCK) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was originally designed inside General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious attacks.

The DUKW was used in landings in the Pacific, in North Africa, and on the D-Day beaches of Normandy. With the enemy holding all available ports, DUKWs carried 18 million tons of supplies ashore in the 90 days following the landing (see Mulberry harbor).

Many DUKWs are still in use, primarily as tourist transport in harbor and river cities including London, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin Dells, Seattle, Halifax, Nova Scotia, San Francisco, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Dublin, Grapevine, Texas, Branson, Missouri, Portland, Maine, Portland, Oregon, and Liverpool, England.

The Boston Red Sox celebrated their 2004 World Series victory with a parade of 17 DUKWs carrying members of the team over land and across the Charles River. The Seafair Pirates in Seattle use a DUKW modifed to look like a Spanish Galleon as their primary means of amphibious transport.

Almost all have been repainted, and given modern diesel engines and enclosed tops, making them more resemble conventional buses. Most require a bus-type Public Service Vehicle license and a passenger-use boat license.(Wikipedia)

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