Assembly line in Normandy. Setting up shop in an open field a combat area in Normandy, a U.S.

Assembly line in Normandy. Setting up shop in an open field a combat area in Normandy, a U.S. Army Ordnance Motor Vehicle Assembly Company turned out its first jeep within 33 hours after arrival in the bivouac area. Within that time, the American soldiers set up camp, pitched tents, installed air raid protection and sanitary facilities, established mess facilities, put in an assembly line, moved in tools and turned out the first vehicle. Colonel Benjamin Mesick of Claremont, California, ordnance chief in the combat supply headquarters directing the company, also disclosed that 24 hours after the first jeep and its trailer rolled off the assembly line, 40 more pieces of highway rolling stock were turned out by the unit. Major General B. Sayler of Washington, D.C., Chief Ordnance Officier of the European Theater of Operations, who inspected the first jeep assembled in France by American forces, declared: "The organization that did this job has probably broken a record for getting into a combat area, getting set up and actually getting production under way." General Sayler announced that additional assembly shops working under the same setup will be established on the Continent in a short time. Henry C. Sowers of Nebraska applies the finishing touches to a truck built on the auto assembly line of the U.S. Army in France.