American Heritage Museum keeping World War II tanks running strong

HUDSON, Mass. – The American Heritage Museum is bringing the history of World War II to life this Memorial Day weekend with reenactments, exhibits and fully-operating tanks from the era.

Rob Collings, president of the American Heritage Museum, brought Spectrum News 1 inside the museum’s M36 tank destroyer, which people will be able to ride in this weekend.

“It’s really amazing to get inside of one of these vehicles when you fire it up for the first time and you hear the rumble of the 1100 cubic inch engine,” Collings said.

During World War II, the M36 tank destroyer, also known as the M36 Jackson, was designed to eliminate enemy tanks, and Collings said it did so with impressive precision for its era.

“What made it different is this gun out here, that’s a 90-millimeter cannon, and that’s extremely high velocity,” Collings said. “Extremely powerful. It scored the longest shot of World War II. 2.8 miles away, and it destroyed a panther. I don’t even know how they saw 2.8 miles, but they managed to get that shot off.”

Sitting in the drivers’ station surrounded by 30 tons of metal, Collings said it’s easy to feel invincible, and that there’s nothing you can’t take on.

But in reality, he explained, the tanks were designed to prioritize speed and power over protection.

Its armor wasn’t very thick, so a German Panther tank could take it out from up to 3,000 yards away.

“This, fortunately, had the ability to fight back with its gun, but most of the other tanks did not,” Collings said. “The crews were very, very vulnerable in these tanks, and they were a bunch of young kids at the time, 18, 19, 20-year-old crews that were just dumped off on the beaches of Normandy. It’s amazing what they did and what they accomplished at that time.”

Approaching the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the numberof veterans still here to share their experience is dwindling, and the American Heritage Museum is honored to have 100-year-old World War II veteran Alfred Consigli scheduled to visit as part of their busy Memorial Day weekend.

Riding in their tanks and hearing their roaring engines gives you perspective, but there’s no substitute for shaking their hand and hearing their stories.

“You can get the history lesson from someone who fought in the Battle of the Bulge,” Collings said. “In five years, you’re never going to be able to talk to one of these guys again. This is an amazing opportunity. And just imagine if you could if you could go and talk to someone who was at the Old North Bridge in Concord or Gettysburg and hear what it was like, you’d give anything for that. But now we still have that very rare opportunity and most of all, to thank them for their service.”

The American Heritage Museum will hold tank demonstrations on May 25 and 26 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The weekend will also feature several other rare military vehicles, World War II re-enactors, and other events.