Athens Schools donate vehicle to veterans museum

Taylor Lane, The News Courier, Athens, Ala.
·2 min read

Mar. 24—On Tuesday, Athens City Schools, in coordination with Limestone County Commission chairman Collin Daly, donated an armored vehicle to the Alabama Veterans Museum.

The vehicle previously sat in front of the old Athens High School, which now operates as Athens Middle School.

"This is a lance missile, and it's been at the high school. It was donated in the '70s to the JROTC there," said Sandra Thompson, director of the museum. "I had reached out to Collin Daly that we should get this thing restored and bring it back to what it was before."

Chief James L. Chambers, senior Army JROTC instructor said, "The M752 Lance Missile Launcher beside Athens Middle School was acquired sometime during the mid-90's. M752 Lance Missile Launchers were used to deploy the MGM-52 Lance Missile when it was a viable weapon's system for our military. The platform was in service from 1972 until its deactivation in 1992 following the end of the Cold War. The Launcher beside AMS was originally OD Green, but later painted in red, white, and blue. Athens High School JROTC cadets spent many days and nights huddled around the launcher during training, socializing or simply waiting for rides home. Whenever we had visitors call and ask for our location, we would tell them to just follow the "tank". We hate to see it go, but realize that it will be in great hands at Athens Veteran's Museum."

With the help of BT's Towing, Tires, and Truck Repair, the crew loaded the vehicle onto a tractor-trailer at the old high school and transported it to the museum.

The vehicle joined the fleet of other historic vehicles at the museum and will be repainted and restored to its original state.

Thompson hopes the Career and Technical School can begin restoration work on the vehicle immediately.

"It adds to our collection and allows visitors to see what came before the technology that we have today," said Thompson.