Tanks, APCs, and a Huey

Sunday, 31 March 2013.  Happy Easter to everyone!   Here’s hoping that each of our blog readers had a wonderful holiday and are enjoying a fine spring – wherever you are.  We’re currently staying at the Camp Meade RV campground (again) -- near Odenton, MD -- and enjoying the hospitality of the Ft. Meade Army community.  Staying here also puts us quite close to our youngest son, Jamie, his wife, Lisa, and our two grandsons, Ben and Luke, who live nearby in Pasadena, MD.  We’ll be staying at the Camp Meade campground till sometime in early May, depending on how my knee responds after some minor surgery.  That’s scheduled for this coming Wednesday, 3 April, followed by a few weeks of rehab.  Hopefully everything will turn out just fine and dandy, and we can continue our travels in LynDenHaus.

We recently were thrilled to have Ben and Luke come stay with us for a few days in our motorhome here at the campground.  The weather was only so-so for the first couple days so we took in a movie (“The Croods”), played some games inside, and did some shopping for Easter and Lisa’s birthday.  As the weather improved, I was able to take the boys outside for a couple walks around the small lake near the campground, feed some ducks that frequent the lake, and just let them “cut loose” on a couple nice playgrounds near some Ft. Meade Post housing.  Believe we all enjoyed getting outside and I’m sure Grandma thoroughly enjoyed some “quiet” time!

We also planned to take Ben and Luke to the Ft. George G. Meade Museum while they were staying with us, but were counting on some decent weather since several of the displays are located outside on the museum grounds.  This small, but well-maintained museum was established to “collect, preserve, study, and exhibit historical artifacts pertaining to the history of Ft. Meade,” and is dedicated to those US Army members who died in the defense of freedom.  Visitors to the museum will discover a wealth of historic artifacts, photographs, documents, and paintings inside the museum, while outside on the grounds visitors are treated to an array of historic military equipment including tanks and armored personnel carriers (APCs) from WWI and WWII, and a Huey helicopter from the Vietnam era. 

I took loads of pics of both Ben and Luke outside with every tank and APC on display, and of course the Huey.  The inside offered more photo-ops and I think we got some pretty good shots of the boys enjoying their time exploring the museum.   Their excitement as they ran from one tank or APC to another was contagious, let me tell you.  And they especially love the Huey!

One last note before posting the pics: Ben helped me with the nomenclature of the pieces various of military equipment, and while I can’t verify 100% each piece of gear or hardware, I think we got most of them right.  Hope you enjoy looking at the pics of the boys at Ft. Meade’s museum as much as we enjoyed the whole experience of our visit.    

Ben & Luke posing with the UH-1H "Huey" at the entrance to the museum grounds

Monument to American POWs

Boys posing with Grandma next to the Huey

Close-up of Luke and Ben next to Huey cockpit

The "obligatory" rear view shot of the Huey, with a M113 APC in the background

After a good 20 minutes, and after thoroughly checking out this Huey, we decided to go inside and see what we could find -- and to save our exploration of the tanks on display outside for later.

The boys in front of a French Renault FT-17, WWI era tank.  The French outfit that fought with these tanks was called the "Five of Hearts" -- hence the red heart.

The boys posing with a couple of WWI Doughboys

The boys in front of a WWII display, showing an infantry soldier/rifleman (left) and a tank commander on the right, with some sort of radio in the middle.  Should have heard me trying to explain "shortwave communications" to Ben.  Boy, that kid has loads of questions!

Luke astride a full-sized replica of a cavalry horse.  I'm sure you weren't supposed to get into the saddle, but Papa swooped Luke into the saddle while Grandma snapped a quick pic

The museum had several replicas of WWI Doughboy jackets for kids to try on, so we put a couple on the boys and had them pose with a WWI "Mountain Howitzer"

Ben solo with the howitzer

The boys in front of a Civil War display, flashing the WWII "V" for victory sign, which PaPa taught them during our museum experience.  Flash the "V", smile, and snap the pic!

Boys in front of a marble monument to the Battle of the Bulge

Luke atop a M113 APC

Both boys on the M113 APC (and no, I didn't mistake the letters; the "ACP" above is written in Army-ese; stands for "Armored Carrier Personnel")

Astride a M41 "Bulldog" tank

Close-up of the Bulldog, with Luke about to slip around the turret!

Atop a M4-A3 "Sherman" tank

Last tank on display, a M47 "Patton".  Notice the boys are no longer posing on the tank.  

When we got to the Patton tank we "discovered" this nice little sign.  So glad the Army placed the sign at the END of the line of tanks.  Oh well, I think the boys had more fun the way we did it!