Thanks Michel @michel-verschuere
and Matt @coondog
for the kind words and well wishes for Sandy. I'm glad that she is home now too. Just recently she was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer...which is a very aggressive type. They found it quite by accident, and she was not having any symptoms at all. In fact when they were doing blood tests on her, it didn't even show up in her CA-125 screening blood work. Her first surgery was the day before Thanksgiving. This is some scary stuff ! and I don't scare too easy...
She is going through chemotherapy next. It's supposed to last between 6 to 8 months, with a treatment at every 3 weeks. She gets a blood draw every week now. Poor thing has been like a pin cushion recently... I feel so bad for her. They told her she will lose her hair after the second week. Keep in mind that she has always had long beautiful hair for her entire life. This will be a dramatic change for her and take an emotional toll on her as well when this happens.
Right now it's almost like a bad dream... a nightmare if you will. It just hast not sunk in yet... for either of us. When it does it will probably hit us like a ton of bricks.
She has been so strong through this. A real trooper...
Please continue to keep her in your prayers. I am sincerely grateful for that. Thank you... from both of us.
Matt,
Thanks for posting up pictures of your Sherman. It really looks great ! My Dad told me that on some of the tanks he served in during the Korean War, that they often had additional MG's added to the turret roof, since you had to be almost completely exposed to operate the .050 caliber MG where it was mounted. Dad said the .050 caliber weapon was there primarily for supporting Infantry to use. He said it was great for "shooting into the hills"... or for marking targets.
He also said that most often they added a lot of additional storage for spare MG ammunition on the outside of the tank, using primarily the fenders... They did this on the Sherman's and the M-26 / M-46 tanks he crewed.
Dad said he preferred the Sherman in the hills of Korea. He said it could "Go in places the Pershing's and Patton's couldn't". He also said it was a very reliable tank, and easy to maintain. He said the main drawbacks of the Sherman was the armor wasn't as good as it was on the M-26 / M-46 tanks. He also added the Sherman would "catch fire within seconds once it was hit. You better get out quick if it happens"... My Dad finally told me during his last days, that he was in 4 different tanks that were knocked out / or damaged in Korea through various actions.
One Sherman he was in was flipped on it's side when it ran over an anti tank mine. This happened on a very narrow dirt road and the tank almost rolled down the side of the mountain.
One Sherman was taken out with a satchel charge placed on the rear deck. I think he said this happened in or very near Seoul.
Another one he was a crew member in was hit on the rear deck with a direct hit from a 122 MM mortar round. I do not know what type of tank it was however.
The last tank he said was disabled by a T-34. He said that one of the tracks were shot off and the tank was no longer mobile. I think this last one may have been a Pershing, but I'm not 100 percent sure about it now. He said that it also caught fire when they received another hit. But he didn't specify what type of incoming fire set his tank ablaze. He said the North Korean and Chinese often used captured American bazookas... and knew the weak spots to aim for.
Your Sherman will look even better once you replace the string... The crew figure looks fantastic ! That's an area I need some serious improvement with. You have it mastered.
Thanks for sharing.
