Issue # 3      "ON TRACK"         NEWSLETTER      July, 2006

Jackson Acquisition

    Acquiring the M36 Jackson was along time dream come true. It started with Ken Lelacheur's donation of $50,000 dollars towards the acquisition. He had crewed one in France 1944/45, basically living in the vehicle for months while fighting the Nazis. Being that we are a tank destroyer museum, It's absence was a "hole" in the collection . Thanks to Ken we had taken a monumental step toward actually continuing to expand out Tank Destroyer collection! But, as you can guess, locating, inspecting, and purchasing the 30 ton monster was going to be a lot of work. Museum Multimedia Director Dave Serafin wrote about the adventure to go acquire the Jackson.

"For the Jackson", By Dave Serafin

    The M-36 was built at the end of World War II as a replacement for the M-10 wolverine Tank destroyer. Using the classic Sherman chassis , the M-36 had a five man crew, but unlike the Sherman it had an open top turret and a 90mm gun. This was a lot better than the M-10's 76mm gun. Like its other tank destroyers, the M-18 Hellcat (Already in the Museum's collection), the M-36 and M-10 were lighter, faster than conventional tanks and practiced the well known “Shoot and Scoot” tactics.
    I would have rather said, ”Beam me up Scotty” and be at the location in Indiana in a few seconds. But it is not a bad ride to do it in a 2006 Cadillac D.T.S. along with some great people.
    Ken Lelacheur Sr, Jr. and myself, left for Indiana at 6:20 am, January 13th from Newtown, CT. After 823 miles, a snow storm and a tornado we made it to our destination at 7:20 pm somewhere in Indiana. John Valluzo caught up with us that night, flying in from Florida, to go over the game plan for the next day.
    January 14th, After a hearty Mid West breakfast, all four of us met up with the seller on a farm outside a small town in Indiana. Boy was it cold. From our car we walked over to a large barn and then we saw it: the M-36 Jackson Tank Destroyer.
   All of a sudden the cold and the wind didn’t seem to matter to the four of us anymore. We all climbed up on the M-36 like it was a new jungle gym at school. After we fired it up, we moved it slowly out of the barn.
Although Ken Sr. could not adjust the seat properly to drive it, we all just stared at it running for about ten minutes. We had made the decision: We'll Take It!
    John flew back to Florida that afternoon and the next day the three of us visited the Studebaker museum in West Bend Indiana. After a night in Toledo, we made it back to Newtown during the twilight hours of January 16th. Over 1600 miles round trip, a snow storm, a tornado, but with the best news, we bought another piece of history: the M-36 Jackson , which is on display at the museum now.

Please proceed to page 4.