stug
The stug was on display in Martin Park on Harvey Barracks when I arrived in '85. It left in the early 90's. I know it went to Borden as I cut it open and spent a couple of days freeing up the brakes so it could be dragged onto the trailer. The museum curator at that time had dug up the loan paperwork showing it originally came from Shilo. Any trade happened between Borden and Ropkey, a trade for a halftrack seems fairly one-sided in my opinion. Ropkey quickly sold it, it was the new owner I spoke with at the time.
There is no way the Government of Canada is going to provide some documentation to support the private ownership of a tank disposed of or lost decades ago for some prospective owner. Who would you call to get such a document? And if by chance someone actually provided a document of some sort there is no guarantee that it would carry any weight legally. Who actually has the authority to give you title to a tank?
The "common knowledge" is just more innuendo and rumor. If its not documented its not knowledge. You can go to the archives and see a list of Shermans listed as "SOS", I know not all tanks we had are listed. However, there is a note that tanks "given" as monuments must have their power packs and breech blocks removed and the breech clamp is to be welded to fix gun elevation. I cant quote "given" as I read a copy a dozen years ago.
I can say with certainty that we gave a complete Sherman to Jack Guthrie based on the legal opinion we received from our own chain of command. We also gave a Centurion to a school as a monument under the same guidance. We provided letters of support for ownership with the vehicles at the time.
Shermans from the BC logging industry had no documentation either and I know four complete tanks came from there, they were never modified as monuments. Three are in the US, one remains in Canada. Pretty hard to steal four tanks even in the 70's.
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