The Village of Pachuta has recently added an M-60 tank to its Veteran’s Memorial in order to thank and honor those who have served in the military.
What many people may not realize, however, is that obtaining the tank for the memorial has been a two year process that Alderman Terry Herring started after noticing the tank in Waynesboro while he was working one day.
“My job carries me different places. I went by the armory in Waynesboro one day and saw the tank sitting out there. I knew the armory was closed, and I ended up going to the town hall in Waynesboro and talked to the town clerk. I asked her what they were going to do with the tank, and she said that she wasn’t sure. I told her that if they would like to get rid of it, then Pachuta would like to have it,” explained Alderman Herring. “She talked to the board about it down there about a month later, and we found out that they didn’t have a problem giving us the tank; we just had to be responsible for moving and transporting it. Mayor Richard Johnson and everyone in Waynesboro have been very patient with us throughout this whole process.”
Although he knew the process of moving a large tank would be difficult, they quickly learned just how difficult it would be. Although they had hoped to have the tank moved voluntarily, the sheer size of the decommissioned vehicle was impossible for different volunteers to move. Eventually, the town found Simmons Wrecker Service and voted to pay them to move it.
“We started hunting different avenues of getting the tank moved. We talked to people who were in the trucking industry and could move the big heavy equipment. Our focus was to get it moved for free by someone who would like to just voluntarily do it for the Veteran’s Memorial in town. That went on for about a year before I decided to contact Representative Troy Smith and see if there was something he could do, but after checking into it, he wasn’t able to help us because there was just so much involved with it,” expressed Alderman Herring. “We knew that we would have to pay for it, but I didn’t think that the board would approve paying for it. Tyler Kirkman approached Simmons Wrecker Service to see if they could do it, and they said yes and gave us a quote for it. We brought it to the board, and I told them that I understood if they didn’t want to do it. They voted unanimously to pay to have it moved and pay to have a slab poured for it to sit on. Simmons Wrecker Service really knew what they were doing and was very professional.”
Troy Smith was correct in explaining that there was too much involved for him to be of any help. The town had to make it past other things than simply finding a means of transport.
“We have a guy here and town who is a retired National Guard, Larry Howze. He just happened to come by, and I told him about Terry finding and trying to get the tank. He gave me the information to call the military, so we contacted the military, and they gave us the contact information for the place out of Michigan that handles surplus or decommissioned property for the military,” explained Pachuta town clerk James Skidmore. “We had to send minutes from our board meeting to Waynesboro showing where we said we wanted the tank, and Waynesboro had to send their minutes to us showing where they said we could have it. Then, we had to send all of those minutes along with our request to Michigan.”
Now that they have the tank in place, the town has plans to revive it and set the flags back up to honor those who have served.
“We’re going to pressure wash and repaint it and get it presentable,” stated Alderman Herring. “We’re getting together to see how we want to arrange the flags to encompass the memorial itself now.”
Overall, the town is excited to be able to honor its veterans by displaying the tank. They are thankful for all the servicemen in the area and never gave up on this project because they wanted to go above and beyond to do something different to thank them.
“We are very thankful for our veterans. That’s why we added the tank: we wanted to show a better level of gratitude for the service that has been provided, is being provided, and will be provided,” informed Skidmore. “This made it where we could thank the veterans a step further than just having a wall and a flag.”
Everyone is invited to go and see the tank at the newly updated Veteran’s Memorial in Pachuta.
