Red Ball Express, The - The military comedy ROLL OUT/CBS/1973-74 was based on the exploits of the real-life WWII transportation unit, the 5050th Quartermaster Trucking Company, (a.k.a. "The Red Ball Express"). Stationed in France, the mobile unit comprised mostly of black GI's, drove supplies to the front lines of WWII France. Stu Gilliam starred as Corporal "Sweet" Williams, one of the best drivers in the unit whose job was to make sure that he stayed on the "ball" and kept the trucks rolling.  The Red Ball Express was officially terminated on November 16, 1944, when it had completed it mission. According to one report by Colonel John S.D. Eisenhower "The Spectacular nature of the advance [through France] was due in as great a measure to the men who drove the Red Ball trucks as to those who drove the tanks...without it, the advance across could never had been made."

TRIVIA NOTE:  In 1952 actor Sidney Poitier costarred with Jeff Chandler in "The Red Ball Express", a movie version of the famous WWII Army transportation unit. The tagline for the film read" The odds were great...the men were greater."

The term "Redball (or "Redball Manifest") is an old railroad term meaning "priority freight" for time-valued items such as  perishable goods or just-in-time factory inventory.