 Central Park Ashland, Kentucky I've been coming to this spot for longer than I can remember, the old tank was always a favorite place to play war. In recent years, I've been stopping by from time to time to look for a photo that would be different than all the others. And technically, it's not a tank. I think it's a self propelled gun. And that brings up the memory of a strange conversation that I once had with a lawyer while waiting for a business deal to close. Not that the conversation was strange, it was just strange that we first had an awkward moment of silence then I found myself sitting in a lawyer office and chatting about tanks. Life could find you in a worse conversation while in lawyer offices, I suppose. The lawyer said that he entered service during WWII and was sent to Europe with a group of replacements. The military folks weren't yet ready to use him in his assigned job, which was one of the more safer jobs at the military base, so he found himself just biding time and walking around. After awhile, he went to a superior and protested by blurting out 'don't you have a tank outfit or something...' So, according to his story, that's how he found himself with his head stuck out of a tank and looking at the Germans. His job, as he explained it, was to 'poke' his head out the top of the tank and guide everyone. During battle, he would sometimes have to jump out of the tank and lie on the ground while helping to site-in the shots against the enemy, causing great hearing loss for the rest of his life. His career ended when he had his head 'poked' out of the top and the tank hit a tree, throwing him completely out and onto the ground. He spent a long time in a full body cast. So, while looking at this tank one day, I realized that it had no way for someone to poke their head out of the top because it was not really a tank. I looked it up and found that its a self propelled gun (or artillery piece, I forget). Two operators ride on each side of the gun and they sit out in the open, with the exception of a shield in the front. In the very back, there are holders for a couple of dozen shells and the whole thing rides on tank-like tracks that are powered by one large automobile-like engine (which has in recent years been covered over by metal). A slightly more interesting conversation than the hot-dog-talk from a few days ago, but only slightly more. Comment (5) | Permalink |
4x6photo.com | The Tank | 01 July, 2008
