As World War II approached, Dartmouth’s Jim Barrington said his father felt called to enlist in the military, but due to his role working on Martin bombers, he was denied for war production. 

So he quit his job for a month and enlisted again, this time making it into the Marine Corps.

When they learned of his experience working on airplanes, he was stationed on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, supporting the Helldiver squads in the invasions on the islands. 

His unit then occupied Japan for a year before he was taken off aviation and joined the motor pool where he learned to work on military vehicles, such as the 1942 Weapons Carrier 24 Barrington brought to the Military & First Responder Appreciation Weekend at Running Brook Vineyard over the Aug. 23 and 24 weekend.

“It’s very rare because they only made this vehicle for two years — ’41 and ’42,” Barrington said. “Then, they went to a three-quarter ton — bigger, beefier, stronger, more powerful engine. So it’s very collectible, this one.”

He noted the vehicle's chassis and how it would sometimes be used to pull a pickup truck or an ambulance: “So it was very versatile.”

The seats in the back were accompanied by a pull down table that stored maps and other materials.

Barrington said after his father died, he inherited the vehicles and had only just recently brought the WC24 up from North Carolina, adding he has five other military vehicles.

“They’re slow. I only do about 35 [miles per hour] even though it says it’ll do more,” he added. “Everybody waves at you, so it is fun.”

The appreciation weekend is one of the vineyard’s community events from a series organized by Seth Vivieros. Vivieros said he often visits Fort Rodman Museum in New Bedford and it struck him to see “just how proud they are.”

His own grandfather being a veteran of the Korean War, he said, “I feel like they don’t get appreciated enough along with first responders.”

Several vendors at the event were military-related organizations, such as the veteran’s hospital, but Vivieros noted it was tricky getting more due to the organizations’ limited funding and scheduling conflicts. But he hopes with the connections he was able to make this year for the first event, that more will be able to join.

Also in attendance were members of Dartmouth Fire District 2, who were showing off a few vehicles. And along with Barrington, Dartmouth’s Taylor Andre had brought a military vehicle.

Hailing from another time period, his was a 1970 M2582 from AM General, which is a 2.5 ton post war cargo truck. 

Andre said he is a part of several military groups online that buy and sell equipment and he managed to find this one off Facebook Marketplace about two years ago and has recently bought a second. 

“I like them,” he said. “They are very robust.”

When driving it around town, he said, “It’s very slow. It’s bouncy — a little bit. It’s not the smoothest thing on the road, but I mean, other than that, it’s very reliable for the most part.”

Andre said he likes to bring the vehicles to events, the town parade and for hauling wood or moving broken trees that pose hazards “but other than that just going around, maybe getting some ice cream.”