Category Archives: Military

A Shooting Star T-33A Stands Guard at American Legion Post 295 in Breckenridge, MI

On September 20, 2020, we were driving up to visit my son and passed through Breckenridge, MI, when a cold war jet fighter on pedastals appeared on the left. It didn’t dawn on me until we went by it. We turned around and I got out and snapped some photos planning to write something later when I had time.

Well, three and a half years later, here’s the post. It’s funny how as you get older, time flies by. At any rate, I dug out the photos and decided to research the jet.

First off, it’s located at American Legion Post 295 in Breckenridge, MI. It’s on the North side of 46 between Spruce Street on the West and Wright Street on the East – the Jet is in front of the buildings and is hard to miss.

Next, the jet in question is a T-33A Shooting Star and the tail number is 51-4067. The “T” tells us this was a trainer version of the famous Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star – America’s first operational jet fighter.

A Bit of History

The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, developed during World War II, holds a significant place in aviation history as the United States’ first operational jet fighter. Designed by Lockheed’s Skunk Works team under the leadership of Clarence “Kelly” Johnson (who went on to lead the design teams for both the U2 and SR-71 – click here to read more about this amazing man), the P-80 was a groundbreaking aircraft that pushed the boundaries of speed and performance.

While not seeing combat in WWII, the Shooting Star proved its worth during the Korean War. It served in various roles, including fighter-bomber, interceptor, and reconnaissance aircraft. The P-80’s sleek design, powerful engine, and maneuverability made it a formidable adversary. However, it faced challenges against the Soviet MiG-15, which led to the development of the F-86 Sabre.

The P-80’s legacy extends beyond combat. The design served as the foundation for the T-33 Shooting Star, a widely used jet trainer that played a crucial role in preparing pilots for the jet age. The T-33, with its tandem seating and simplified controls, became a staple of air forces around the world, training countless pilots and contributing to the advancement of aviation technology.

The P-80 Shooting Star and its T-33 trainer variant stand as testament to American innovation and engineering prowess. They represent a pivotal moment in aviation history, marking the transition from propeller-driven aircraft to the jet age. While the P-80’s combat career was relatively short, its impact on aviation technology and pilot training was profound and enduring.

The Jet at Post 295

How exactly the jet arrived at Post 295, I don’t know. On one hand, it had seen its better days but on the other it is a clear monument to air power. I can’t help but wonder how many young people have looked at it and dreamed over the years.

Here are photos from that day:

We can see the Strategic Air Command (SAC) emblem near the top of the tail and it looks like someone spruced up the air inlet with a shark’s mouth. The elements are taking their toll on the plane. The machine gun openings have been filled in to the front – that is the slightly yellow area and darker patch just behind the nose.
The two middle pylons attach where the landing fear were originally located. It looks like at least one bird realized it was a safe spot to build a nest.
A view from another angle of the West side of the plane. The P-80 would have been armed with six .50 caliber machine guns plus a payload of 2,000 pounds of bombs or 8-10 rockets (I read different numbers and am not sure which is right). The ark just to the right of the nose on the lower section and the yellow patch above and behind it are where machine gun openings would have been.
Looking at her straight on and slightly up. The jet is pointed South.
One last photo.

Summary

If you are in the Breckenridge, MI, area and interested, drop by and see the Shooting Star. It’s an interesting piece of history.

Want to learn more and Shooting Stars? Check out:


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Japanese Type 96 25mm gun and North American T-28 Trojan on Display at Villa Escudero

In my last post, I introduced Villa Escudero located near Quezon in the Philippines. I have a few more photos of static displays near their museum that I want to share in this last post from the visit.

Japanese Type 96 25mm Anti-Aircraft Gun – Single Mount

The Type 96 was a variant of the French Hotchkiss 25mm anti-aircraft gun and was made in Japan.

The Japanese produced the Type 96 anti-aircraft cannon with single (1943), double (1935) and triple (1941) gun mounts. The weapon was generally considered reliable but the mounts were very slow to move.

Note the rock keeping the gun pointed straight ahead. Layers of paint were helping to slow the rust.
As with pretty much every display I’ve seen, the breech and receiver internals are gone.

If you want to learn more, check out:

Japanese Type 1 mobile 47 mm Rapid Firing Anti-tank Gun

The Type 1 was produced at the Osaka Army Arsenal – reflecting it was the year 2601 of the Japanese imperial year and went inhto production in 1942 with a total of approximately 2,300 being built.

I don’t know why I only have one photo – if you look on the web, everyone has this photo. I wish I had more angles.

To learn more, check out:

North American T-28 Trojan From the Philippine Airforce

This T-28 was a trainer aircraft used by the US Airforce and Navy well into the 1980s. It was also sold to a nubmer of militaries including the Philippine airforce until 1994. A fellow on another page said the serial number of the plane at Villa Escudero is 174-565 and if I look that up, it was sold to the Philippines in November 1958 and disposal approved on February 22, 1977. I was there in 2016 so it showed up there sometime between those dates.

To learn more about the Trojans, check out:

Prop Gun With More Displays Visible

My best guess is that the gun mount is authentic – though I don’t know what it is, but the “gun” are mockups.

The mockup is on the left and the real Japanese Type 89B with a resort visitor climbing up the tread is on the right.

Closing

There was more to see at Villa Escudero. Why I didn’t take more photos, of the displays, I don’t know. It was a beautiful resort and I will end this with my favorite photo from there.


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A Japanese Type 89B I-Go Otsu Medium Tank Is On Display at Villa Escudero in Quezon, Philippines

On July 16th, 2017, I had the opportunity to visit the Villa Escudero Plantation and Resort during a trip to the Philippines. Villa Escudero (VE) is a working coconut plantation about two hours drive from Manila near Quezon and was founded in the 1880s by Don Placidio Escuderio and his wife Dona Claudia Marasigan. It was opened to the public in 1981 and is definitely worth visiting either as a day trip or overnight.

The reason I am writing this is that outside their museum they have a number of interesting WWII Japanese artifacts on display. What caught my eye immediately was the aging hulk of a Japanese Type 89 I-Go Otsu Medium Tank. I vaguely knew the Japanese had some tanks in WWII but this was my first time actually seeing one in person.

Quick History of the Type 89

The Type 89 was designed in 1928 and fielded by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1932-1942. The light tank version waas based on the 10-ton French Renault FT tank and the 2o-ton design was based on the Vickers medium tank and so underpowered that it was redesigned to 10 tons based on the Vickers Medium C.

It had a crew of four, a 57mm Type 90 gun with 100 rounds of ammo and two type 91 machine guns on the hull and rear of the turret with 2,745 rounds of ammo.

Given the 1920s design, it was intended to support infantry and lacked the armor of allied tanks. The Type 89 was consideredd a poor match for the American M4 Sherman for example. The Type 89 was regarded as obsolete by 1939 but was fielded in the Philippines.

The Japanese produced a Type89A I-Go Ko with a gas engine and a machine gun on the right side of the hull. It could only hit 15.5 Km/h and 113 were produced.

The second variety was the Type89B I-Go Otsu. Production started on these in 1934 and they had an air-cooled Mitsubishi A6120VD 120HP diesel engine. The machine gun was on the left side of the hull, the front hull was a single plate. The diesel engine was preferred because they had better fuel economy, more torque at lower RPM and diesel is less explosive than gasoline during a fire. 291 Otsus were produced.

Given some digging, I found the following Imperal Japanese Army units with Type 89 tanks were in the Philippines:

  • 7th Tank Regiment led by Colonel Seinosuke Sonoda from 1941 to 1942. The 3rd company of the 7th tank regiment advanced south along Route 5 towards Manila.
  • The 1st Tank Corps also had Type 89s
  • The 3rd Regiment had 26 Type 89s
  • The 4th Regiment had four Type 89s

Villa Escudero’s Type 89B

I am unsure of where VE obtained the Type 89B Otsu, if it was retrieved locally or just what. We can definitely say it is an Otsu because the machine gun is located on the left side of the hull (Ieft from the vantage of the crew looking forward).

Also, note the camo paint. I have seen black and white WWII-vintage photos of Type 89s with camo paint. I just can’t confirm the pattern or exact colors match.

This photo is from Wikipedia and is of a Type 89B Otsu during field trials. Note the camo pattern but we can’t tell the colors.
This fellow climbed on the track and it gives you an idea of the Otsu’s size. The Otsu is 18′ 10″ long, 7′ 1″ wide and 8′ 5″ tall. The weight is 14.09 tons (12.79 metric tons).
The main gun was a 57mm Type 90 that was lower-velocity and no match for the US M3 Lee’s 37mm cannon not to mention it couldn’t penetrate the Lee’s armor. The main gun could have helped with machine gun nests and vehicles lacking armor. It’s interesting the gun appears to be there but the machine gun is lonmg gone.
Closer view of the front. The ring is off the tow point. There’s a closed hatch on the hull. I didn’t see any welds to lock up the track. I’ve seen static displays in other countries where the goverment welded parts so there would be no moving the vehicle. Front hull is a single plate riveted on.
Closer view of the front
Notice the rear mounted machine gun cupola on the turret and the heat shield on the exhaust. Now look at that wierd attachment on the back. My best guess is it was added in to enable the tank to better back up without getting stuck or maybe even to handle barriers – going up ror down.
Here’s a better look at that rear assembly. Clearly there are rounded skid plates. I see them in some historical photos and the video below but I didn’t find details on why they are ther. In some photos, there were supplies/boxes on top of it. I did find one very informative website that called this “unditching gear” that was added around 1937.
A view of the rear drive wheels and that rear skid assembly. Rust is taking its toll. Kudos to Villa Escudero for maintaining it as best they can. The heat, humidity and being surrounded by the ocean takes its toll on anything made of steel over time.
One last photo – I found the tread pattern very interesting.

Original Video

When I see something like this, I wonder what it looked like. Here’s a black and while video with sound from Youtube that shows the Otsus and you can see they have a camo pattern and also the rear skid assembly is present.

Conclusion

If you want to see some Philippine history, great views, and have some great food then visit Villa Escudero. I’d like to thank them for trying to preserve some unique history and make it accessible to visitors.

To learn more about the Type 89 Otsu tanks, see:


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Civil War Monument With an Eleven Inch Dahlgren Gun in Saint Joseph, MI

In Saint Joseph, MI, near the intersection of Lake and Broad Streets sits a civili war monument consisting of an Eleven Inch Dahlgren and some stacked shot. The gun is pointing out to the lake and there is a simple sign for curious folks to read.

I’ve read this sign and looked at the cannon many times over the years and realized it was time to write a post about it.

Photo Gallery

The following is a gallery of photos of the 11-inch (XI) Dahlgren. If you clck on one, then you can see it full size and navigate around:

Some History

St. Joseph’s 11-inch Dahlgren gun was built in 1864 at Hinkley, Williams & Co. in Boston, Massachusetts, for service in the Civil War. It and other guns of its type were designed by Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren who wanted to use more more modern design methods to create a safer and more powerful gun. His designs were known as “Soda Bottles” because of their characteristic rounded shapes with additional steel at the rear to strengthen the breach.

Rear Admiral John A Dahlgren – the designer of the Dahlgren guns (Source: Wikipedia)

In total, 465 of the XI (Eleven) inch guns were made at five different foundaries between 1856-1864. That means the Saint Joseph gun was built during the last production year.

The smoothbore gun was cast hollow, bored out and lathed to a finished weight of 15,890 pounds which is marked on the gun. The sign and the reference table from Wikipedia are close but not exact:

The sign says the gun used a 15 pound charge and could hurdle either a 130 pound exploding shell or 200 pound solid shot a distance of over two miles.

Wikipedia cites a reference book on Civil war artillery that the gun used a 20 pound charge to launch either a 133.5 pound exploding shell or 166 pound solid shot a distance of 3,650 yards (2.07 miles) at a 15 degree elevation.

Here is an 11-inch Dahlgren mounted on a pivot mount. This is on the USS Kearsarge, a contemporary ship to the USS Marion that the Saint Joseph gun came from.

There is an interesting 12 year gap here. The gun was made in 1864 and the sign says it was removed from the USS Marion in 1876 and it’s previous use was uncertain. Was it on the Marion the whole time? Let’s try and look at that.

USS Marion

Drawing of the Marion at Hampton Roads circa 1880 (Source: Wikipedia)

From Wikipedia, here’s a quick timeline of the USS Marion:

  • April 24, 1839 – Launched as a sloop-of-war – 25 years before the St. Joseph gun was made in 1864
  • 1856-1857 in ordinary – this means it was in a reserve fleet. It might have needed repairs or overhauling.
  • June 21, 1861 – recommissioned after the Civil War broke out
  • July 14, 1861 – set sail
  • May 1862 – ordered to Boston for repairs
  • July 24, 1862 – ordered to Annapolis for use as a practice ship until 1870
  • 1864 – The St. Joseph gun was made in Boston (according to the sign)
  • 1871 – Rebuilt as a third-class steamer
  • January 12, 1876 – Recommisioned
  • 1876 – The gun was removed from the Marion (according to the sign in St. Joseph)
  • July 5, 1897 – gun dedicated in Saint Joseph – it had to travel there, be installed, etc. (according to the sign)

So, not much we can glean from what I can find. Odds are the 11-inch Dahlgren was getting dated by that time.

Summary

Today, kids climb around on the XI-Dahlgren gun and families take photos but they don’t know much about it. I suppose the Civil War is becoming just a few days, if even that, in history classes. Regardless, it is a memorial for men who served from the area. It’s well maintained by the city and gracefully stands guard looking out at the lake.

References

  1. Information on Dahlgren guns and historic photos of Rear Admiral Dahlgren and the USS Kearsarge are from the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlgren_gun
  2. Information about the USS Marion and photos of it are from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Marion
  3. USNI article on Dahlgren and his guns https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2013/may/armaments-and-innovations-soda-bottle-shaped-shell-guns

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A M60A3 Tank Sits Overlooking the River At American Legion Post 49 in South Haven, MI

South Haven, MI, is about 40 minutes up the road from us and we’ve been there a number of times over the years. On a number of occasions we’ve driven by American Legion Post 49 and seen the M60A3 tank sitting overlooking the river. We were up there recently and I snapped a few pictures in order to assemble a post about it.

The tank is a M60A3 serial number 7582 and was overhauled at Anniston Army Depot in October 1988.

The “Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105mm Gun, M60” was officially adopted in March 1959 and was an evolutionary design from the M48A2 Patton though never officially considered as part of the Patton family.

The M60 tanks served as the main battle tank during the cold war with 15,000 being produced. It was first put into operational use in Europe in 1960. Chrysler started production in 1959 and then the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plat produced them from 1960-1983.

Over it’s design life, there were many upgrades as the Americans and Soviets tried to “one up” each other in terms of capabilities. M60: 1959-1962, M60A1: 1962-1980, M60A2: 1973-1975 and then the M60A3 from 1978-1983. Note there was a modernization program and one point that upgraded 5,400 older tanks to the M60A3 variant that ended in 1990.

The M60 was eventually replaced by the M1 Abrams. The US retired the M60 from front-line use after Operation Desert Storm (August 1990-February 1991). The last tanks were retired from the National Guard in 1997. The M60 still sees use in many other countries including Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

I am not going to cover all of the history and design changes. Click here for a good Wikipedia post with that info. Instead, I am just going to list some stats I found interesting about the M60A3 specifically.

M60A3 Stats

  • Number produced: 1,052 new vehicles + 5,400 tanks upgraded to A3
  • Weight: 54.6 short tons ( 1 short ton = 2,000 pounds)
  • Hull length: 22 ft 9.5 inches
  • Gun forward length: 30 ft 6.5 inches
  • Width: 11 ft 11 inches
  • Height: 10 ft 9 inches
  • Crew: 4 people
  • Main cannon: The 105mm M68E1
  • Secondary Armament: .50 BMG or 7.6×51 on the commander’s cupola.
  • Engine: Continental AVDS-1790-2 V1 Air cooled twin turbo diesel with 750 BHP
  • Suspension: Torsion Bar
  • Transmission: GM cross drive single stage with 2 forward and 1 reverse gear ranges
  • Fuel capacity: 385 US Gallons
  • Range: 300 miles – so optimistically maybe a gallon per mile
  • Max speed: 30 mph on the road and 12 mph cross-country

Here’s what the Post had to say about the tank

They had this summary on a fence post by the tank.
And this was on the ground.

Photos of the American Legion M60A3

Summary

A big thank you to the Post setting up the tank for people to see and providing the background placard.

If you are travelling through South Haven, MI, it’s worth a quick stop the the American Legion Post to see the M60A3.


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A M4A3 Sherman Tank Sits Guarding the Mancelona, MI, American Legion Post 264

As I have written in the past, I am always fascinated my old military equipment located at American Legion Posts, VFWs, cemeteries and so forth. My wife and I have driven on US-131 a number of times over the years and seen a M4 Sherman tank right by the road but have never had the time to stop and take photos until October 2022. We were on our way home and had time to stop and take a few quick photos. Now, weeks later, I did a bit of research and compiled this post.

The tank is a static display for American Legion Post 264 in Mancelona, MI located on the corner of US-131 and State Street in downtown Mancelona – if you are headed North, it’s on the the right hand side of the road just before the intersection.

The tank is a M4A3 Sherman serial number 11755 with a 75mm cannon with a small hatch and dry storage. The smaller hatches were an earlier production design and many were kept in the US for training purposes and did not see battle.

Dry storage models had ammunition racks mounted on vulnerable positions and the rounds could catch fire. Later “wet storage” models moved the racks to the floor in less vulnerable positions and protected them with sealed chambers filled with water and anti-freeze to slow the progression of fire and allow the crew a few more seconds to escape.

The Details

To be honest, I had no idea how many variants to the M4 Sherman were made – it’s stunning actually. This Wikipedia page gives info on the tank in general and this one lists info on variants. I thought this would be a quick post to write but every time I pulled back a layer and got more details that then led to more details. I had to then dig specifically on the tank to read what others had written about it.

So here is the info I could sort out:

  • Model: M4A3 small hatch dry storage
  • Maker: Ford
  • Where: Highland Park Plant
  • When: February 1943
  • Production: It was one of 1,690 small hatch dry storage M4A3 Shermans made by Ford between June 1942 and September 1943. This variant had the lowest production numbers.
  • Serial Number: 11755
  • US Registration: 3053910
  • B&R Rebuild Stamp: 579
  • Engine: Ford GAA V-8 500HP – that engine is really interesting – it’s an all aluminum 1,100 cubic inch 32 valve dual overhead cam 60 degree liquid cooled engine. Everything was geared – no belts or chains – so it was actually very reliable. The design is amazing in my honest opinion.
  • Transmission: Synchromesh with 5 speed forward and one reverse
  • Max road level sustained speed: 26 mph – I got stats ranging from 21 to 30 mph on this one)
  • Fuel type: Gasoline, at least 80 octane
  • Fuel Capacity: 174 gallons
  • Range: From TM9-759, the manual reports 110 miles cross country or 155 miles on the highway. Note that means it’s not even getting a gallon per mile in terms of fuel economy.
  • Suspension: Vertical volute spring suspension (VVSS) with three bogies per side and two wheels per bogie
  • Track: This tanks has the T48 track with rubber chevrons – 16.56″ wide and makes contact for 147″
  • Main Cannon: 75 mm (97 rounds carried)
  • Integral machine gun: Two .30 cal M1919A4 – one in the ball mount on the right side of the hull and one coaxial to the main 75mm cannon. (4,750 rounds carried)
  • Secondary machine gun on the turret: .50 Browning M2 (300 rounds carried)
  • Mortar: 2″ M3 mortar for smoke (12 rounds carried)
  • Small arms ammunition: 600 rounds of .45 ACP and
  • Weight: 30.3 tons
  • Length: 19’2″
  • Width: 8’7″
  • Height: 9′
  • Crew: 5

Okay, I am a gear head. The more I read about the Ford GAA engine, the more fascinated I got. Displacing 1,000 cubic inches or 18 liters, it remains the largest V8 gas engine Ford has made and it made more than 28,000 of them. It’s estimated that only 500-1,000 still exist and they are sometimes found in competition pulling tractors. Here’s a video of one running on a test platform in 2019:

Here are pages with more info just on the GAA engine:

Photos of the Sherman – October 11, 2022

There is a nearby park with a lot that we left our van at. We then came up on the tank from behind. The American Legion post did a nice job painting it. It’s always nice to see history preserved.
One of the things I noticed right away was that the rubber treads were in remarkably good shape. On some tanks they are worn down next to nothing. The folding blanket rack on the back is down.
Close up of the rear left side idler wheel. You can see a grease fitting at the 10 o’clock position.
This is a photo of the rear bogie and two wheels. The Sherman M4A3 had three bogies on each side as part of its Vertical volute spring suspension (VVSS) with three bogies per side and two wheels per bogie. The bogie is the vertical part that the two wheels connect to.
Just forward of the “American Legion” signage looks like a sign board with more text on it. That’s actually additional armor welded onto the hull.
The hatch in the turret is a pistol port. You don’t see those on modern tanks 🙂 General Steel, who made the turret, stopped casting turrets with pistol ports in May of 1943 and any with them were welded shut.
The big upside down U is a lifting eye. The hatch behind it is a cover to the grouser compartment.
This is for the blanket rolls and could have held cleaning rods, etc.
The sun and that pine tree were in just the wrong place at the wrong time so I have a ton of shadows but figured I would include the photo regardless. You can see the elaborate front sprocket.
You can see the rifling in the barrel of the 75mm cannon. 24 grooves with a 1:25.59 right hand twist. The coaxial .30 cal machine gun would have poked out of the hole to the right of the cannon. Note, the cannon is resting in it’s “travel lock”.
This shows the travel lock a little bit better. At some point – presumably during the B&R rebuild – it was upgraded to the post war single locking arm model. In WWII it would have had two “fingers” – one on each side of the barrel – that would curl around and hold it.
Looking at the front cast nose section of the tank,
7411 was cast and the -107 was stamped.
The protruding armor on the side of the turret and the sides of the hull is known as “applique armor”. It was welded in place to compensate for sections of the casting that needed to be thinner.
This is the best photo I have of the applique armor welded to the turret. The casting’s armor was thinned by 2″ internally to make room for the gunner’s controls. It’s actually two plates welded together and to the hull to compensate for the curvature of the turret.
This is the only partial close up I have of the Ford front sprocket. It’s really eye catching and unique. One of the websites mentioned that there were so many field repairs going on that it wasn’t surprising to find parts from one type of Sherman on another.
Firestone showing their brand! You can see a grease fitting as well. The lubrication guides to the Shermans are incredibly elaborate – there were many, many grease points as you can well imagine trying to keep a 30 ton
More applique armor.
A view up at the turret.
This is the exhaust deflector.
I turned around and snapped one more photo of the old tank guarding the road,

Videos of restored M4A3 Sherman tanks

When I see a piece of history, I always wonder what they looked like when they were actually running / in use. Fortunately, there are many videos of restored tanks that you can watch and here are two:

This one has some interesting coverage of the “top 10 variants” containing narration, stills and original footage:

For More Information

Folks, there is just so much history relating to the Sherman tanks that there is now way I can capture it. Below are links where you can find out a ton more:

  • First off, specific to the Mancelona tank, L&P Hannah took a ton of photos of it in 2014 and still have them posted online. The paint had not been refreshed at that point but what is cool is that the photographer took many photos from many angles – way more and better photos than mine. Click here to open a new tab to go to their page.
  • This page hosted in France has a lot of info on Ford M4A3 variants.
  • A gentleman named David D Jackson has assembled an amazing tribute page to the American Automobile Industry in WWII and he provides photos and a wealth of info – click here to open a tab.
  • This page contains a wealth of statistics on Shermans including things like armor thickness, depth of water fording, etc. It’s a treasure trove of info and you have to scroll down to the M4A3 section, Click here.
  • Museum of the American GI has a page about their restored M4A3 Sherman that I got some of the stats from regarding dimensions and weight.
  • Another great site is TheShermanTank.com – click here to go direct to the M4A3 page.
  • The Sherman Register by Hanno Spoelstra is another excellent site.

The above links reflect massive efforts by their curators to capture history before it is lost. I couldn’t have written this post without their shared works.

Summary

It was pretty neat to stop and see the tank I wish I had a ladder or something to get more angles plus I wish I took more photos but you get the general idea. I learned quite a bit while researching this post and only scratched the surface, which is why I listed all of the additional resources above.

If you are on US-131 going through Mancelona, it’s definitely worth the stop. Finally and perhaps most importantly, kudos to the members of American Legion Post 264 for keeping the tank in such good shape and sharing history with us.


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.


US Coast Guard Response Boat Medium (RB-M) 45754 Stationed In Saint Joseph, MI

We were walking on the south pier in Saint Joseph, MI, on a fine June evening enjoying the cool Lake Michigan air. Coming in from the lake was one of the US Coast Guard boats that are stationed here. As it came in I decided to snap a number of photos plus look up just what the boat was when I had an opportunity.

In doing some digging, the vessel was a Response Boat Medium (RB-M) and the hull number 45754. It was delivered to the Saint Joseph USCG station in May 2014.

The RB-M is a 45-foot versatile utility boat used for search and rescue, The USCG has the following to say about the design:

The 45-foot RB-M is being procured to replace the 41-foot
utility boat (UTB). It is an all-aluminum boat that has a wire-
less crew communication system and is powered by twin
diesel engines and water jet propulsion. Unlike the 41-foot
UTB, the RB-M has the ability to self-right if it should ever
capsize. This feature allows the RB-M to operate in higher
seas, ensuring the crew (and rescued survivors) comes
home safely. For example, RB-M’s survivability parameters
are 12-foot seas and 50 knots of wind, whereas the UTB’s
limits are 8-foot seas and 30 knots of wind. The RB-M has
a top speed in excess of 40 knots and cruises at 30 knots,
compared to the 41-foot UTB top speed of 26 knots. All 174
RB-Ms have been delivered.
(Click here for the USCG equipment guide PDF that I extracted the above info from)

So, it’s a pretty cool versatile boat. Here are the photos that I took:

We definitely appreciate the service the USCG Coasties provide the nation and our community. I thought it would be cool to share these photos in case others might like to see them.


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June 2021 Lest We Forget Event Was Held in Benton Harbor, MI

Lest We Forget is an organization dedicated to keeping the memories of what our military has done for us. The 2019 event was the last one for WWII, 2020 was cancelled due to COVID and 2021, this year’s event, remembered Korean War veterans. They have static displays, food, vehicles you can ride on and re-enactments.

We arrived a bit late on June 19th due to family commitments but I did have a chance to snap some photos of the various vehicles on display that including a M3 halftrack, a DUKW 6×6 amphibian, an M37 dodge and a M59 APC to name a few.

Here’s the slideshow:

If you ever get a chance to attend a Lest We Forget event, I highly recommend it. The atmosphere is family oriented and everyone there wants to share and have a good time.


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