"Dude! Where's my tank?" Topic

An American Legion Post in Sussex, New Jersey, received an M3A1 Stuart in 1946. But, as of last year, they had no idea of where it got off to.

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Wyatt

Those light tanks can be so easy to lose – perhaps they should have been given a proper Sherman instead?

Griefbringer

I don't have it.

Maybe it is one of the original Stealth M3A1 models. Nobody can find it because nobody knows what it looks like.

I don't have it.

Yes he does. It's in his garage.

I… er… I had that before 1946!

Yeah, that's it.

Those damn things sure are hard to insure.
John

Why do they want it back?

And i thought i had trouble with my keys :-)

Nappy, the collision insurance is dirt cheap.

When was the legion hall last renovated? Maybe it's covered up with drywall or wall paper?

First, they come and take away your light tanks…

Did you look under the bed, you can find a lot there :)

ALL of the WW1 and WW2 etc., artillery and tanks and such set up as ornaments were never "donated" to anyone. They were always on extended loan to the group and subject to recall or return if the facility was not able to maintain them.

There have been many cases where everyone in the original group have passed away forgetting the agreement, and the post has sold a tank to some local collector.

Now all of this stuff is on the books at property of the US Govt through its Military History loan program at Anniston. Every so often someone turns up selling something and the serial number if checked and the item recovered by the Govt and either a new home found for it, or it is placed back in stock to loan out.

In fact even if they cannot match the serial number to a loaned item, there was a famous legal case in which the decision rested on the fact that the ONLY purcheser of said item (a cannon) was the US Army. There were no civillian sales. As the Army had no record of ever selling it off, and it was not demilled as it should have been IF sold, the collector was forced to give it back.

A great many legion and VFW posts have been closing down, so the Army is looking to recover items that once common, are now rare, and no longer in use or being maintained. This is a GOOD thing for the military history world, as otherwise most of them would be rusting into little bits of metal. This is one reason they are doing checks now as far too many are just sitting as a pile of rust having never been painted or maintained in years.

Neat…. ;-) It brings to mind a (hopefully apocryphal, but I wonder….) tale I once heard of an armored regiment that did a headcount and discovered they had one *more* tank than they ought to. The paperwork for sorting that one out promised to be a nightmare, so rather than notify higher authority they buried it….

Dom, not as apocryphal as you might think. I did that way back in 1981. We were sending some M60A1s back to depot for rebuild and I got creative with the requisition system. My company CO wanted an extra for tank gunnery. We got away with it too until the battalion XO did a motor pool inspection and noticed our tank line was longer then the others. That was also when he noticed the extra deuce and a half.

In 1986 in Korea, I received a rather nasty inquiry about my vehicle accountability after the Koreans dug up an M59 APC at one of their posts. The serial number traced back to B Company, 72d Tank Battalion. I pointed out that the M59 had been retired from the US Army around the time I was born.

My wife keeps saying she wants to get me a tank.

I hope she did not buy a hot Stuart.

Mike "Bunkermeister" Creek
bunkermeister.blogspot.com

The whole thing sounds phony. There WAS NO U.S. Defense Dept. in 1946! It wasn't created until 1947. Before that the Army was controlled by the War Dept.

I'd start checking Polish Rivers. God knows what else you will find in them.

So, I pass an M60 that has been placed on static display in the field outside a local American Legion Post on my way to work everyday. That M60 is technically a "Loan" to that post?

It's not the only American Legion post that has an M60 on display in my area.

Andy Welkley
"Your Phrendlee Hevy Phyzx T-chrr"

Our American Legion has a German 75mm AT gun in front of it … so who owns that? (Also has an American 57mm AT gun)

Probably used as a snow plough or grader by the local municipality – that cannister round would be great for hunting too.

I'ld check the couch if I was them, I always lose stuff in couches.

Maybe one of them sold it on the black market?

In a little town just north of us there is a silver-painted German WWI miniwerfer in the town square – like Oppiedog says, I wonder who owns it!

So, I pass an M60 that has been placed on static display in the field outside a local American Legion Post on my way to work everyday.

So if it just wasn't there anymore one day, would anyone miss it?

It is technically all owned by the US Army. (or whatever branch). Its all on extended loan as a patriotic morale building disply of a war trophy.

All a town or post had to do was request something form the military and as long as they had an item in stock they got it. Unless they have a full and proper bill of sale fromt he government (who is the only organization that would ever have originally owned such things) the ownership defaults to the Army per the previous court decision.

No one might miss it at first if the Post did not report it, but if anyone official every was curious how you could get such a vehicle that did not go through the proper demil procedures they could check the SN's and track where it came from- and take it away from you.

Some of this stuff can be privately owned, but you had better have your paperwork trail in order. Or, you could start your own musuem, become acreddited, and just pay for the shipping and they will loan you one.

Some of the smaller trophy's like MG's from WW1 were actually brought back via american express for local posts, but it was technically not legal as the captured German Army army property was all transferred to an associated power was never private property.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was scrapped. These things were not given much value immediately after the war.