A relic of the Cold War era in world affairs has landed in Dalton at American Legion Post 112. And it’s a mighty big relic — the M103 tank emblazoned with the U.S. Marine Corps insignia on the front lawn weighs 55 tons, according to post Commander Jim Lovain.
“What an impressive piece of equipment on display at American Legion Post 112 on Glenwood Avenue,” the Post 112’s Facebook page proclaims.
Lovain said the tank, now on permanent display, was used primarily from 1957 up to 1974 during the Cold War.
“It was considered a ‘heavy tank’ weighing 55 tons,” he detailed. “After that, I guess our military decided they didn’t need that kind of tank anymore.”
The “heavy tanks” were produced between World War I and the end of the Cold War (1991), and sacrificed maneuverability for more firepower and better armor protection, according to the book “British and American Tanks of World War II.”
“I don’t know much about tanks, but some of the (Legion) guys that were in the Army and worked with tanks said this one is the biggest one they’ve ever seen,” said Lovain, a Navy veteran from 1967-71 who served in communications aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lexington.
He added that it took several tries to get a tank at Post 112, a fixture in North Dalton for several decades.
“This is actually the third tank we’ve tried to get,” reported Lovain. “A guy from the Army called and said, ‘Are you guys interested in a tank?’ I said, ‘Well, sure, we’ve been trying to get one for a long time.’ The first tank was in Winder in a national Army depot and he said they wanted to get rid of it. He said it’s not going to cost you anything to get this tank. I said, ‘Great, that’s what we need!’ A few weeks later he called me back and said, ‘Jim, I made a mistake. The tank is in Rome and that’s as far as I can get it, and the expense of getting it on to Dalton is going to be on you.’
“I said, ‘OK, we’ll do that.’ A few weeks went by and I called him back and said, ‘I thought we were going to get that tank.’”
As it turned out, the tank stayed in Rome because the Dalton post could not get a deed on it. Later, another man called to see if the Legion had interest in an M60 tank that was in a Titusville, Florida, museum that was going to be shut down.
“He said, ‘You have a short period of time to decide if you want this tank’ and I said, ‘I have to get this approved through our executive board and I’ll do it as quick as I can,’” Lovain said. “When I called back he said, ‘Sorry, you didn’t get back to us in time.’ When I asked if he had any more, he said, ‘No, these tanks are hard to get.’”
When Lovain called straight to the museum in Titusville and told a staff member the guy had said they’re hard to get, the man at the museum said, “That’s funny, there’s still two here that has to go somewhere.” “So I said, ‘I wonder why they said that?’
“And he told me, ‘The first one you looked at was an Army tank, and this one here’s a Marine tank — and those two organizations don’t get along,’” Lovain said with a laugh. “’That’s why they didn’t tell you about it.’ So we had to jump through some hoops with the Marines to get everything OK’ed, and in the last week they said, ‘We’re ready to go with it. It will be loaded up on the trailer.’ I kept trying to get an ETA (estimated time of arrival), and finally I called the trucking company. They said, ‘The tank is in Atlanta, it’s on (Interstate) 285 headed your way!’”
Marine tank lands in Dalton
Wanting its arrival to be “a big deal up here,” calls were made to Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood and Assistant Chief Chris Crossen with the Dalton Police Department.
“So we were able to get an escort to drive it in,” said Lovain. “Since then, a lot of people passing by the Legion have stopped and put somebody out to get a picture of it. The tank was not in combat, but is the one that was used by the Marines and the Army; the one at the Legion belonged to the Marines. I didn’t realize we’d get that much attention out of it, but anyway that’s good for us.”
Lovain said most comments are about the size of the “almost head high” tracks on the tank.
“And I guess there’s just a whole lot of people that don’t know how big a tank is till they get up against it,” he said, adding there may be a dedication ceremony for the tank in the future.