Group keeps alive and running jeeps that helped win war

Before the Humvee, there was the Willys Jeep, the most reliable four-wheel drive vehicle during World War II.

Dubbed as “the American workhorse of World War II,” hundreds of Willys Jeeps were fitted with axes, shovels and machine guns, similar to those used by actors in the TV series “The Rat Patrol” in the 1960s and 1970s.

Last week, 35 of these all-terrain vehicles found their way into this former US military base. Their owners are either vintage jeep collectors or history buffs or both.

Florante Casuyuran, 47, a resident of Angeles City and owner of two Willys Jeeps, was among those at the event.

Casuyuran, a member of the Military Vehicle Collectors Club of the Philippines (MVCCP) in Pampanga, is proud of his Model MB Jeep, which was built by Willys-Overland Motors in its Ohio plant in 1942.

“I bought it from a man in Mexico, Pampanga, after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991. I spent around P300,000 to restore it in four years. It is known as the 1942 MB, which we call the ‘MacArthur Jeep’ in the Philippines,” he said.

The MVCCP Pampanga chapter was started by five people about a decade ago and now has 25 members, said Casuyuran.

“Each member owns at least one jeep. We collect them because they have historical value and they are beautiful,” he said.

The gathering of “jeepers” was initiated by vehicle restorer and seller MD Juan Enterprises in cooperation with MVCCP and the Mabalacat tourism office.

Guy Hilbero, Mabalacat tourism officer, said the event reenacted the Battle of Bataan to give the gathering a different twist.

“We have decided to reenact the Battle of Bataan to give historical color to the gathering because members of the MVCCP are not just collectors, they also have a sense of history and they know very well the great contributions of their jeeps in winning the war for the Americans and the Allied Forces,” Hilbero said.

MVCCP has chapters in the Ilocos, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Metro Manila.

The Willys Jeep is also the predecessor of the “owner-type jeep” and the “jeepney,” the product of ingenious Filipinos who turned surplus and scrap materials into what is now known as the king of Philippine roads.