A car from the past resurfaces today Detroit automobile manufactures weren’t the only ones thinking about new post-war models after WWII. Five G.I.s, stationed in Assam, India, in 1945, posed with what they called a “post-war Jeep” made from the salvaged parts of eight different vehicles. From left to right, are Sgt. Harry Braun, St. Louis, Mo.; S/Sgt. Arthur Shonk, Delphi; S/Sgt. Leonard Swanek, Ord, Neb; Sgt. Marc Kinney, Denver, Colo.; and S/Sgt. Pershing Pitter, Cook Station, Mo. Photo provided Who would have imagined that an issue of a classic car magazine could have such a startling effect on a widow of a local World War II veteran? Virginia Shonk of Camden was surprised to learn that her husband, Arthur Shonk, was featured in a modernday publication.

Rex Wilson of Delphi, a former classmate of Shonk’s daughter Cathy Shonk Gero, contacted Gero after reading an article “Classics During War” in the December 2009 issue of Hemmings Classic Car magazine. The article featured a photo of her father, Arthur Shonk.

Wilson sent the magazine to Gero and she showed it to her mother.

“I did not know anything about it until Rex talked to my daughter and sent me the magazine,” she said.

The article describes how cars of the WWII era not only changed the average citizen’s life but of those who served in the military.

U.S. Army mechanic Sgt. Arthur Shonk, who was then attached to the 24th ordnance unit and stationed in Assam, India, from 1941 to 1945, helped four of his buddies build a car out of military jeep parts.

Mrs. Shonk said that her husband was told they could do anything they wanted to at that time to help calm their nerves.

“It was near the end of the war and they built the car for something to do but could not keep it because it was made with government material,” she said.

Her husband passed away in May of 1997. She kept all the photos and letters he sent to her while overseas.

She said what was even more surprising to her was to find out that the photo is part of the National Archives and Library of