1st Hussars and Holy Roller & Perry Kitson

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

I had a civilian car guy I know send me a link to this story because he knows I tend towards the military stuff. Long story short he was affronted I spoke negatively about it. From that I gather the average joe is quite happy with a new paint job and return to the concrete slab of death for $200K.

Yes, the average Joe is more than happy to see vehicles on outdoor display slowly disintegrate; but it only takes one person with some influence to change things. A good example is Forceful III, the GGFG's trophy tank that used to sit outside of their drill hall in Ottawa.

It was during the construction of the new CWM in 2004 that I was approached to see if the Guards would be interested in having their tank on permanent display in the museum. Don't get me wrong, I only served with the Guards for two years back in the early 1980s so I didn't have any influence with the Regiment. I made a few contacts and found out that the Guards were not interested in moving the tank to the CWM as they liked having it in front of the drill hall. I thought the idea had died until a member of the Guards Senate (an oversight committee of retired senior Guards) had heard of the proposal via their RSM and liked the idea. He was able to convince the Senate of the validity of the proposal who in turn swayed the Regiment into allowing their beloved tank to be on permanent indoor display to be seen by more people then it ever would sitting in front of the drill hall.

I wouldn't say that the museum capitalized very well on the tank's history or did much to make it look like it did during the war; but Forceful III is on permanent indoor display in the CWM since 2005 and I count that as a 'W*'.

* W = Win