WW2 Armor returns to D-Day Conneaut
Aug. 13—CONNEAUT — WW2 Armor will be returning to D-Day Conneaut this year, bringing a number of items to the event.
"We're a self-propelled museum, we take these things to events where ever we can find them," said WW2 Armor Chief of Staff Mike Houk.
The group, based in Florida, will be bringing three M4 Sherman tanks, an M7 Priest self-propelled gun, an M8 armored car, the Long Tom 155mm artillery piece and a high speed tractor to tow it, Houk said.
"Technically, Long Toms didn't land on the beach on D-Day itself, but what we're doing is we're bringing it to kind of simulate a lot of the naval fire," Houk said.
While training with the Long Tom, they use a smaller charge of about a pound of gunpowder, Houk said.
"For events, it's about eight pounds, and we've heard reports of folks hearing it, it depends on the terrain, probably about 13 miles away," he said. "So it can get pretty loud."
WW2 armor has, over the years, adjusted their approach to D-Day Conneaut to try to keep it as accurate as possible while still dong justice to the event, Houk said.
"Each year, we try to make it a little better," Houk said.
WW2 Armor's preparations for the event start almost a year ahead of time, when the group decides what they will take to D-Day Conneaut.
"Once we identify what we're bringing, we let our mechanics know," Houk said. "Here, we have a saying, 'all tanks are breaking or broken,'
"So once we've identified the tanks, they focus their efforts on making sure they work, not just for the event, but for the month prior," he said. "Because in the month prior, we are rehearsing what we are going to do up there."
Issues are always identified, Houk said.
"We're working on them this week, even, so that once we get up there, we're not going down for any kind of mechanical issues or safety issues," he said.
In addition to the vehicles brought by WW2 Armor, a Commonwealth group will be bringing an M4 Sherman and a Commonwealth variant of the M7 Priest, Houk said.
Houk said the event is unique.
"Myself, I've been to Conneaut maybe four times, and my view of the invasion is through a vision block in a bow gunner's hole," he said. "I got a very limited view of what it actually looks like. I can turn the periscope a little bit back and forth, and I can see the guys running across the hedgehogs and running across the beach shooting."
Members of the tank crew are reliving, to an extent, how confusing the event would have been, he said.
"The crew is basically getting the main gun ready to fire, there's all kinds of firing commands, there's a lot of noise, we're shooting our machine guns," Houk said.
D-Day Conneaut is very professional and very well done, Houk said.
D-Day Ohio Chief Operations Officer Lori McLaughlin said it's amazing to see WW2's convoy traveling down the road.
"You don't get to see tanks going down the road very often," she said.
