The State of South Dakota recently built a memorial to veterans of WWII.
The dedication was yesterday, Saturday Sept 15th. Our governor, William
Janklow, decided that even with the events of the last week, this
dedication and parade needed to go on. How correct he was. It turned out
to be a half way miserable day with rain falling off and on through-out the
day, but the veterns and their families turned out in force. The crowd was
estimated at approx 20-25000 people. The Governor gave a moving speech
that brought tears to most eyes. As he stated, our WWII veterans fought in
weather that was at most times worse than "today", and they were the ones
that enable our current freedom of speech. He talked about the events of
this last week, and said that now it is time for the younger people to take
their place and rise to victory in this new war.
As to the MV content of this letter:
Our State Capitol, Pierre is 180 miles away from my location. During all
of out local parades, I haul the members of our local VFW post in both the
track and my M38A1. I wanted to take my 1/2 track but had no way of
transporting it. I contacted the National Guard and after the Commanding
General heard about it, it was decided that they would transport both the
1/2track and my jeep to Pierre. It was one of the best experiences in my
life. The Guard guys were like kids in a candy store around the vehicles.
Most were young and had never seen these type of vehicles. Even the older
guys had never seen halftracks. Every one of them were eager to help place
the guns on the track and get the vehicles ready to go. Due to my
stupidity (I was attempting to put the windshields in place myself. I had
raised up the armored windshield cover, got one hold open rod in place, I
thought, and with my arm through the windshield opening, I tapped the hold
open rod and the armor wiendshield cover fell, trapping my arm. Luck was
with me in that I did not break my arm, but I had no strength in it and
opted not to drive the track) I allowed a Sgt with the SDNG to drive the
1/2track and he was all smiles during the parade (His new name is Sgt
doubleclutch). Another SDNG member drove my jeep. We hauled the VFW
members from Rapid City as always.
This parade was by far different that any of the parades I have been in in
Rapid City. The 1/2track is always an attention getter, but the crowd in
Pierre was extremely responsive when they saw it coming down the street.
You could see a lot of the Vets turning to their wives and/or family and
explaining what that vehicle was or telling a story. The look in their
eyes was enough to make this trip well worth while, and I wish I could do
it all over again.
I would encourage each and every one of you to contact your local VFW or
Legion Post to see if you can carry these Vets during a parade. The
stories they will share with you will stay with you for life.
Cliff Dahl
Rapid City, SD
M2A1 halftrack
M38A1 jeep
M135 duece
M35A2 duece
M105 trailers
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 08 2001 - 10:58:59 PDT