WEBVTT

00:02.000 --> 00:04.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
AMNA NAWAZ: And now a look at
one of the newest museums in
the town of Stow, Massachusetts,

00:04.833 --> 00:07.933 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
housed in a space the size
of an airplane hangar.

00:07.933 --> 00:12.033 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
It's home to some 50
fully restored tanks
and armored vehicles.

00:12.033 --> 00:17.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
But the American Heritage
Museum has a mission of
remembrance, not glorification.

00:19.000 --> 00:22.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Special correspondent Jared
Bowen of PBS station GBH
in Boston has this story,

00:23.200 --> 00:25.266 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
part of our arts and
culture series, Canvas.

00:25.266 --> 00:29.566 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
JARED BOWEN: Step on
to the mezzanine of the
American Heritage Museum
and you survey what

00:31.500 --> 00:35.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
seems, from a distance anyway,
like a sea of overgrown
toys. They are anything but.

00:37.600 --> 00:39.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
ROB COLLINGS, President,
American Heritage Museum:
These are the vehicles,

00:39.266 --> 00:43.266 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
the artifacts that
have the chronology
of how war came about.

00:43.266 --> 00:48.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: Down on the
floor, staring up at these
behemoths, you find a hulking

00:50.300 --> 00:53.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
history of war, tank after
towering tank, tools of one
of mankind's darkest trades.

00:57.900 --> 01:02.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
ROB COLLINGS: They were manned
by humans, by men, and women in
the case of the Soviets on the

01:05.533 --> 01:10.533 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
Eastern Front. And all of
these have a remarkable
story of sacrifice, of
perseverance of resilience.

01:13.100 --> 01:16.866 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: Rob Collings
is the president of the
American Heritage Museum,
which opened in 2019.

01:18.433 --> 01:22.500 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
Most of the tanks come
from the late collector
Jacques Littlefield

01:22.500 --> 01:27.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
and are housed in a
65,000-square-foot
facility spanning this
country's war record.

01:29.233 --> 01:33.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
In terms of tanks, it moves
from 1917 and the first

01:33.233 --> 01:37.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
mass-produced American one
to the M1A1 in use today.

01:37.466 --> 01:41.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
ROB COLLINGS: The collection
is the best in the world
of these artifacts.

01:41.566 --> 01:45.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
There are at least a dozen
they are the only examples
on display in the U.S.,

01:45.733 --> 01:49.266 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
and a handful are the
only one of their type
in the entire world.

01:49.266 --> 01:52.200 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
They're all restored, and
they're running condition.

01:52.200 --> 01:55.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: So, almost any of
these tanks could roll out of
here into the field behind us?

01:55.966 --> 01:59.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
ROB COLLINGS: Not only can
they. They do. In fact,
you can hear one right now.

01:59.800 --> 02:01.933 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
(LAUGHTER)

02:01.933 --> 02:05.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: The source of
the thunderous rumbling that
interrupted our interview,

02:05.133 --> 02:09.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
a Sherman tank from World
War II, making laps on a
field behind the museum.

02:09.933 --> 02:14.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
ROB COLLINGS: These could land
on the beaches of Normandy and
drive all the way to Berlin.

02:16.966 --> 02:20.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And you think about the crews
at the time who were on these.
These were 18-year-old kids.

02:22.500 --> 02:25.166 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
They weren't experienced.
They're young boys who
were scared of being
there. But, also,

02:27.200 --> 02:30.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
they had these mechanical skills
coming off the farm. And it's a
lot like a very large tractor.

02:30.166 --> 02:34.900 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: In
non-pandemic times, the
museum typically offers
demonstration weekends and

02:34.900 --> 02:39.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
World War II reenactments.
Helping to make those happen
is Dick Moran, whom we found

02:42.466 --> 02:45.966 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
nearing the end of a
six-year-long restoration
of a Panzer 1, produced by
Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

02:48.433 --> 02:50.133 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
DICK MORAN, Restoration
Laboratory Manager,
American Heritage Museum:
It was maneuverable.

02:50.133 --> 02:53.333 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
It was small, two-man
crew. It was the best
of the best at the time.

02:53.333 --> 02:55.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
What is really interesting,
if you want to look
up inside the turret,

02:55.900 --> 02:59.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
you can see the machine
guns in here, the hatch, the
sights, ammunition boxes.

02:59.900 --> 03:04.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: And this is exactly
where the museum often returns,
to the deadly reality of war,

03:06.866 --> 03:11.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
to the fact that these were
killing machines, not to
mention literal death traps.

03:13.066 --> 03:15.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Tanks were the most
obvious and often easiest
targets on battlefields.

03:17.633 --> 03:22.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
This Jumbo, which lumbered
through the Battle of the Bulge,
still bears the scars of bombs

03:24.600 --> 03:28.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
and bullets. As mighty
as they are, their crew
rarely survived assaults.

03:30.600 --> 03:33.966 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
One day, we actually went
to a lecture. And this
gentleman stepped up and
he said: "Would you know

03:36.500 --> 03:40.933 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
the life expectancy of
a tank crew?" And they
said that, if you go into
battle, it was 25 minutes.

03:42.566 --> 03:43.966 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
COLIN RIXON, Lead Docent,
American Heritage Museum: And

03:43.966 --> 03:46.833 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
we all sank into our
chairs. And we thought, wow.

03:46.833 --> 03:51.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: Colin Rixon
is the museum's lead docent
and a veteran of the British

03:51.766 --> 03:56.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Army who patrolled the Berlin
Wall during the Cold War.
He and a host of veterans

03:56.766 --> 04:01.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
doubling as docents tour
visitors through exhibition
highlights like the Prime Mover,

04:01.466 --> 04:06.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
an artillery vehicle, later
driven by actor Lee Marvin in
the film "The Dirty Dozen."

04:08.433 --> 04:12.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
They visit the Higgins boat
that delivered infantry onto the
beaches of Normandy on D-Day,

04:14.400 --> 04:17.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
and the so-called Churchill
Crocodile, which incinerated
anything and anyone in its path.

04:19.633 --> 04:21.666 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
COLIN RIXON: This is
my father's uniform

04:21.666 --> 04:26.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
that he wore when he
was commander on a troop
of Churchill Crocodiles
that went ashore.

04:26.500 --> 04:29.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: The personal
is paramount here.

04:29.233 --> 04:34.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Rixon says a steady stream of
veterans now make pilgrimages to
the museum with their families.

04:36.266 --> 04:39.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Is it good, is it bad as they
remember all of these things,
seeing all of these pieces?

04:41.700 --> 04:44.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
COLIN RIXON: So, to many of
them, it brings a story to them.
It helps them, because they're

04:44.266 --> 04:49.266 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
able to talk about it
now. That's the way to
get over it, because you
bottle it up inside you.

04:50.633 --> 04:52.666 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: And it's
where the museum leaves us,

04:52.666 --> 04:57.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
with five men, part of
the U.S. Marine tank crew,
who saw their commander,

04:57.066 --> 05:02.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Marine Sergeant George
Ulloa, killed in an IED
explosion during the Iraq War.

05:03.866 --> 05:07.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
In this video, they discussed
the attack in front of
his now restored tank.

05:10.633 --> 05:13.166 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
MAN: It blew up.

05:13.166 --> 05:17.166 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
JARED BOWEN: It's a very
cut-and-dry reminder that
everything here holds
a history of horror,

05:19.000 --> 05:22.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
making this the rare
museum that, in one regard,
hopes to never expand.

05:24.733 --> 05:27.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
ROB COLLINGS: A lot of people
will say coming in here, is this
a museum that glorifies war?

05:29.466 --> 05:32.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
And by time they get to
the end, they realize
it's an anti-war museum,

05:32.900 --> 05:36.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
because to totally
understand war, you will
never want it again.

05:38.400 --> 05:42.466 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm Jared Bowen in
Stow, Massachusetts.