American Legion Post 449 puts massive tank on display in Marysville

Two dozen American Legion members and other bystanders eagerly paced along the road midday Wednesday outside the Marysville post, waiting for a massive M48A1 tank to arrive.

Post 449 President and Commander Paul Sheldon said they’d requested a major decommissioned military asset to exhibit outside their facility several years ago.

But until last June, when they learned they’d receive the Vietnam-era tank through the U.S. Department of Defense and Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, or TACOM, it never came to fruition.

“So, the cliché Army comment is, ‘Hurry up and wait,’ right? And the anticipation is worse than the ‘hurry up and wait’ for the membership,” Sheldon joked. “You can see the excitement is palatable — in anticipation.”

Earlier that morning, Sheldon said the logistics to coordinate the delivery of the tank was challenging.

It had last been in the AAF Tank Museum in Danville, Virginia, and crossing five states, he said it required permitting for pilot cars and a police escort in one of them.

Although they had long awaited a static display, they hadn’t necessarily asked for a tank initially.

“It’s about the availability of decommissioned assets from the military,” Sheldon said. “… It’s sort of whatever they offer. We can accept it or deny it. And if you deny it, you go back on the waitlist.”

However, when they got the notice earlier this year, he said, “We jumped at it.”

At 143 inches wide and 290 inches long, the tank operated from the late ‘60s until the ‘90s. It was to be positioned on a deep concrete pad directly in front of the Legion building at 229 Huron Blvd.

Prior, Clitus Schuyler, second vice commander for the post, said, “Morale has been super high” prior to the tank’s arrival, which was initially planned for mid-morning Wednesday.

Sheldon emphasized the importance of the asset for membership but also for the role it’d serve a centerpiece for the community.

And he said he hoped it’d inspire more people to engage with the Legion itself.

“So I live down the street, drop my kids off at school every day, and every day, I drive by, I see the pad, and I just (think), ‘It’s going to be …’ What’s the word?” Sheldon said. “It’s definitely going to be something. The city’s excited about it.”

Shana Parker, the post’s manager, quickly filled Sheldon’s missing word.

“It’s like a landmark where people go, ‘Oh, go see the post with the tank in front.’ We go to a lot of posts. Some have jets. Some have tanks,” she said. “You’re always like, ‘The one with the helicopter, the one with the jet.’ So, we’ll be, ‘The one with the tank.’ It’ll be pretty cool to have something like that. I mean, right on the street, everyone can see it, give people a reason to stop in.”

Currently, the American Legion Post 449 has roughly 320 members, and Parker said its larger organization, including sons and auxiliary groups, have around 900.

The tank didn’t arrive until shortly after noon Wednesday.

In the meantime, members had some fun with a toy remote-control tank, belonging to longtime Legion member and Vietnam veteran Mike Young, in its place.

“I gotta send a picture to my wife. Tell her the tank’s here,” one individual said, snapping a photo of the miniature.

“This one’s going to the mayor,” another chimed in.

Moments later, the tank arrived, pulling up on Huron Boulevard.

Sheldon stopped out in the roadway to communicate with the truck’s driver. As he returned, he said to bystanders, “Holy crap, it’s huge!”

When asked, Sheldon added, “Just the size of it, seeing it, you don’t realize.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: American Legion Post 449 puts massive tank on display in Marysville