M4A1E8 in Indiana

[Walter_Sobchak]

I was recently reading an article about a controversy in Kokomo Indiana where townsfolk are arguing over moving an M4A1E8 from the town park to a local VFW hall. That got me thinking about the M4A1E8. According to the registry, there are 13 M4A1E8 tanks on display in Indiana. How did they end up with so many of that specific varient? Also, did the US retrofit HVSS suspensions onto M4A1 tanks after the war or would these vehicles on display represent examples of the 1,465 M4A1E8 tanks produced by Pressed Steel Car Company at the end of the war? Anyone know which countries were given the M4A1E8 as military aid?

[the_shadock]

Well, as the M4A1 was not the preferred type of Sherman tank after WW2, it would not have been retrofitted with HVSS. So, I'm nearly sure that all the M4A1(76) HVSS were built like this during WW2. I'm also almost sure that they never left the USA after 1945.

P-O

[the_shadock]

the.shadock.free.fr/sh...tches.html

In late 1948, the US began a rebuilding program in order to provide tanks to its Cold War Allies. France was the principal Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP) recipient of the M4A1(76), and beginning in 1950, is reported to have received 421 VVSS and 833 HVSS units by early 1954. Belgium is reported to have received 15 VVSS and 65 HVSS units during the same period, and The Netherlands is reported to have received 50, although the suspension type was not listed in the documents we examined. No doubt other countries received some M4A1(76)s. For instance, there is a surviving M4A1(76)HVSS in Portugal, which is reported to have received 5 units, listed generically as "Tank, Med, 76mm Gun, M4 Series."

[the_shadock]

Not all of the post war M4A1(76)s were shipped overseas as MDAP. Several hundred remained in the US. The Army's preference at the time, as during WW II, was to equip its troops with as many Ford V8 engined tanks as possible. Of course, the M26 was the most desired type, but not enough had been produced, so that the M4A3(76)HVSS was considered an acceptable substitute. These two types served in the Korean War. While the M4A1(76)HVSS was characterized as the next best acceptable substitute after the M4A3(76)HVSS, there is no evidence that any fought in Korea. They were used in the US by the Army and National Guard as test and training tanks well into the 1950s.

[the_shadock]

think that it answers your question

[Kurt_Laughlin]

As why there are so many in Indiana, it is likely that there were a large number of them stored in Indiana when the tanks were declared eligible for monument displays. The Army sent what was closest because it would be the cheapest to ship. Now, whether that means that the IN NG used these models or they were simply stored in the state is unknown.

KL

[Jstar]

They were part of the Indiana National Guard, according to a person i spoke to at a museum in Wisconsin today. When the NG base closed they were parceled out to towns, etc.

Here's something I found at 'crown point community.com'

Technically, the WW II-era tank sitting in Griffith's Central Park near the town's war memorial is the M4A1E8 Sherman Medium Tank, but it could just as easily be called the Christenson family tank.
Milford Christenson, founder of Christenson Chevrolet in Highland, spotted an advertisement in the Indianapolis Star in 1958 that the Indiana National Guard was selling 12 surplus tanks for $200.
A Bronze Star recipient as a radio operator in the Battle of the Bulge, Christenson bought a money order in that amount, designating it as from VFW Post 9982 in Griffith, where he was a charter member.