The DUKW (popularly pronounced ""duck"") is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was designed for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious attacks. The DUKW was used in landings in the Mediterranean, Pacific, on the D-Day beaches of Normandy, Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily), and during Operation Plunder (the crossing of the river Rhine)