4 men bring tank to Oconto in 1957

On Monday, Dec. 16, 1957, 67 years ago, four men drove into Oconto with a World War II Sherman tank. Recalling the event years later, Bob Schmit and Doug Bake said it wasn’t easy. “We heard we could get a tank for nothing to put on display in front of the American Legion Golf Club if we would go and pick it up from where it was,” Schmit said. “This one happened to be located 250 miles away. We checked to see what it would cost to hire a trucker to bring it here, and found it would cost $600. So we figured we could get it running and drive it here for a lot less.” The men had never driven a tank before, but that didn’t stop them. Neither did the fact that the tank’s gas mileage was less than one mile per gallon. Schmit and Bake had been in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the South Pacific during World War II and had rarely even seen a tank; however, they figured they surely could pilot a tank back home through friendly territory if they could keep a plane aloft with the enemy shooting at them. Bake, Schmit, Jim Lane and Sandy McTavish left Oconto on Friday night to pick up the tank, which was located in New Richmond, near the Minnesota border. They found it had not been operated in eight years, but they managed to get the engine running using two 12-volt batteries to start it. It ran fairly well, but they found out later it would have started much better had they used the proper 32-volt battery. The muffler pipes in the engine compartment had rusted away over the years, so open flames shot from the engine. The men obtained a special permit from the state to drive the 60,000-pound vehicle on the highway back to Oconto. The first night, they stayed at a garage and parked the tank inside. After they got the tank into the building, the men realized they weren’t on solid ground but rather the second story of the garage with only timbers supporting the massive weight of the machine. The building’s floor held up as the men worked on the vehicle that night to get it ready for the rest of the trip. At less than one mile per gallon and, in 1957, not having gas stations open all night, especially on a Sunday, gasoline was a limiting factor. In fact, they ran out of gas outside of a town during the night and went into town hoping to find someone with a fuel truck to assist. Stopping at a bar, the men stated that their Sherman tank had run out of gas only to be met with laughter from the bar patrons in disbelief. They eventually found someone to help them gas up the tank and were once again rolling through that same town past the tavern where they were earlier met with laughter. One can only imagine the sight and sound of a 60,000-pound tank passing by with no exhaust pipes and flames shooting out the back. The vibrations inside the bar shook everything from the bottles to bar stools. The men made it to Oconto on Dec. 16, 1957. Florian Heimerman, owner of the Tangiers Supper Club in Oconto, had cast doubt that the men could succeed and promised them the best steak in the house if they returned home with the tank. Needless to say, the men, along with their wives, enjoyed their steak dinners upon their return. The tank was used in a number of Oconto parades and, for a short period of time, was stored behind Doug Bake’s house at 202 Madison St. Doug’s son, Bob, remembers his dad giving him and his brother, Dan, a ride to school in the tank, which undoubtedly gave many a memory they would never forget. The Sherman tank made its way to the American Legion Golf Club, its intended destination, where the access hatch was welded shut. The adventure of these four men who rumbled across Wisconsin to Oconto in that tank 67 years ago today will always be a memorable story to be shared. After the sale of the American Legion Golf Club, the tank was relocated to the rear of the Beyer Home and Carriage Museum grounds and is now part of an ever-growing military memorial display. Portions of this story are from John Enigl’s article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette published on Nov. 9, 1986.