A proud and grateful Happy 245th Birthday to the United States Marine Corps today.
Pictured here on the island of Iwo Jima in 1945 are U.S. Marines W.O. Lester H. Jansing from New Orleans, Pfc. Angelo Trentadue from Chicago, and their cheafuer Corp. Donald N Walters of Hazel Park, Michigan.
The three Devil Dogs pose onboard one of the Japanese produced Harley-Davidson VL models, a remnant of the Japanese/Harley licensing deal brokered during the dire days following the crash in 1929. Tens of thousands of these sturdy side-valve Milwaukee v-twins were produced in the 1930’s by the Sankyo Company under licensed blueprints, tooling, and branding sold to them by Harley-Davidson. Following a falling out between the two companies in 1936 however, the machines were rebranded as Rikuo and sold without license through the outbreak of WWII, and again for a period following the war. There were also a number of VL clones produced in those years, many which incorporated this more industrial utility-trike chassis by the Aikuo, Toko Kogyo, SSD, and Kurogane companies. If you are interested in more on the machine check out the fantastic Japanese Harley-Davidsons article over at TheVintagent.com
A heartfelt and appreciative thank you to all those who have served.
