Just What is a DUCK?

It would seem a shame to find your way to Wisconsin Dells and then not know how to speak the language. Take DUCKs, for example. The Dells has the world's largest fleet, or "flock" if you will, of these lumbering seven ton WWII vehicles, produced by General Motors from 1942 to 1945. Their official title, by the way, is D.U.K.W.s - which is a military code representing characteristics of the vehicle (D = 1942, U = amphibian, K = front-wheel drive, W = rear-wheel drive). American GIs nicknamed them "Duck" and the name stuck. The DUCKs' finest moment was D-Day, June 4, 1944, when more than 2,000 of these vehicles were put into service to deliver troops to the rough shores of Normandy, France. It was considered the greatest amphibious operation in history.

In 1946, a man by the name of Melvin Flath brought the first DUCKs to Wisconsin Dells and set up a tour company. These vehicles had never seen war; most were surplus that had remained stateside. Over the years, additional DUCKs have been procured from collectors and other tour companies. Today, it takes a staff of mechanics about two months to get one in good working order.

Dan Gavinski, general manager of the Original Wisconsin Ducks, one of two tour companies in the area, (the other is Dells Army Ducks) was himself a DUCK driver for six summers. A native of Wisconsin Dells, he estimates he's trained more than one thousand drivers over the years. "Today, I see grandparents bringing their grandkids to recreate what they did in the early days," said Gavinski.