A big THANK YOU! to all who braved the weather. The Washington Arms Collectors really appreciates all your effort. I heard lots of really nice comments about how neat the display was. We hope you will put us on your calendar for next year.
On a side note, I heard stories all day, but one kinda stuck with me. One gentleman regaled his time at Ft. Knox, as the last group that trained on the Sherman tank. It was the E8... Easy-8..., and most of what they were doing was testing out new-fangled ideas for the new tanks coming out. He said there were a lot of new recruits training to be tankers and many of them were dirt poor, and had never been in, let alone driven, a car. So their first experience with any vehicle at all besides maybe a farm tractor, was a Sherman tank. They drove with tiller sticks and a 5 speed manual transmission that needed double-clutching. It would have been very helpful to have a third arm, about then. Ear muffs were a necessity, too. Not from the usual tank noises, but from the grinding noises from the transmission!
Thanks again to everyone for coming out on Saturday.
Jim
WAC member
