Starting up a WWII tank on a Ukrainian monument - video

[hemmjo]

OH the memories. I was a kid, guessing 7-9, back in the late '50's. The local American Legion Hall, where I got my very first paying job mowing the grass, $2.00 for cutting about 1/2 acre with an old LawnBoy push mower.

The real fun though was the 3" field gun(I think that is what it was) and WW2 Sherman Tank they had out front. All of the cranks, and levers, worked. The breach on both of the guns opened and closed. The hatches on the tank would open and close, the turret turned, the gun cranked up and down. The drivers seat hatches opens, the shifter and steering levers moved. We spent many hours, fighting numerous battles for a couple of years. It was a big deal when us little kids got to move from cranking the field gun up and down to getting in the tank and cranking all of those levers and wheels.

Then one night, the older boys in the neighborhood got the thing started and drove it off 1/2 way off the concrete pads before it stalled and would not restart again. After that all of the hatches were welded shut and the hand wheels welded.

That was a sad day....