# Military equipment in parks **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299 "2024-09-30T19:10:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/61 "2024-10-09T13:41:27Z")
This one isn’t in a park, it’s in the middle of the town. It has only survived because it housed an electricity sub station for decades. Her sister tanks were reclaimed for scrap during WWII. I visited Ashford for work a few years ago and went for a wander during my lunch break. I didn’t expect this at all! > **[Mark IV World War I Tank](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mark-iv-world-war-i-tank)** > > A rare example of this century-old British tank stands near the center of town in Ashford. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/62 "2024-10-09T14:08:28Z")
I may be confabulating the two. It’s been 60 years… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/63 "2024-10-09T15:03:03Z")
The Batfish was famous for sinking 3 Japanese subs on the same patrol. They kept picking up their primitive radar when they surfaced. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/64 "2024-10-09T15:13:38Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > A friend of mine has a British Ferret. It’s a reconnaissance vehicle that looks like a small tank. It is outstandingly cool. It has rubber tires and is street licensed. It has been used in a movie. He is a class 3 arms dealer so he can mount a real machine gun on it although it has a dummy mounted. That’s super cool. Surely nobody tries anything cute in traffic whenever your friend is driving. Even the boldest of road ragers would “nope” right out of there. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/65 "2024-10-09T15:17:53Z")
The Little Rock Zoo once had two USAF planes on display on poles. That would be many years ago, when that damn goose bit me as I fed it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/66 "2024-10-09T15:52:29Z")
Frame Park in Waukesha Wisconsin once had a old Locomotive Engine on display, in a similar fashion. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/67 "2024-10-09T16:11:04Z")
My city has a little park in the middle of town that for years was just a gazebo and some kind of artillery shooting thingy. The military equipment has been there for at least 40 years, as long as I can remember. There’s a plaque but I forget what it says… Anyway, about 10 years ago the VFW/Auxiliary asked the city if they would donate the land to them so they could build a proper Veteran’s Memorial Park with more than just the one piece of equipment. The city did donate it and now there’s not only a gazebo and the artillery shooting thing, but lovely brick paths with memorial bricks and benches, and wonderful stone monuments from every war & conflict, and a very nice POW/MIA display. The VFW holds services there on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. Oh, and the VFW has their own tank at their post. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/68 "2024-10-09T16:15:06Z")
That came after my time maybe. Don’t recall it at all. I think I’d have some memory of that thing. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/69 "2024-10-09T16:29:36Z")
This thread makes me feel so old since our park had a Spanish deck gun from the [Maria Theresa](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_cruiser_Infanta_Maria_Teresa) (not one of the three trophies listed in the article) from 75 years earlier, and now it’s been another 50 years since then. [![](https://www.spanamwar.com/teresagun5.jpg) ](https://www.spanamwar.com/teresagun5.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/70 "2024-10-09T17:06:29Z")
Not exactly a park, but: > **[USS Arizona Anchor, Mast, Gun Barrel, Phoenix, Arizona](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12083)** > > Salvaged parts from the iconic battleship and state namesake, sunk with most of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/71 "2024-10-11T23:30:33Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Frame Park in Waukesha Wisconsin once had a old Locomotive Engine on display, in a similar fashion. Lots of locomotive engines when I was a kid. And then they gradually disappeared. I wondered about that for years. Eventually realized that there was a point in time when hundreds or thousands of steam engines were being scrapped for cents in the pound, and at that price a lot of them were just given away for community parks. When they wore out, there was no source of replacement. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/72 "2024-10-13T16:57:05Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > It’s more common in areas with a strong, nearby military presence of some kind. You can say that again. I live near Bremerton, WA, home of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. They’ve got the sail of the submarine USS Parche at the entrance of the ferry terminal, and anti-aircraft guns from heavy cruiser USS Bremerton on a street corner “pocket park.” Not far away, but less random because it’s in the parking lot of the Naval Undersea Museum, is the sail of the USS Sturgeon. That parking lot also has the submersibles Mystic and Trieste II. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/73 "2024-10-13T19:17:53Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > You can say that again. I live near Bremerton, WA, home of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. They’ve got the sail of the submarine USS Parche at the entrance of the ferry terminal, and anti-aircraft guns from heavy cruiser USS Bremerton on a street corner “pocket park.” When I visited Seattle back in 2013, Bremerton was the only place I could walk outdoors without smelling pot. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/74 "2024-10-20T23:00:02Z")
There is also the [USS _Arizona_ Memorial Garden](https://discoversaltriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/USS-Arizona-Memorial-Gardens-Relic-Room-video-1.mp4) at nearby Salt River. There are 1,512 columns, 1,177 tall and lighted for those who died and 333 short and unlighted for the survivors. Some are laid out in a shape duplicating her hull at the waterline and the four turrets, the rest in four walkways that represent her mast. Skip to 5:25 in the video for aerial views of the design. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/75 "2024-10-21T16:45:15Z")
One of our local city park, as an example. Ship guns from the USS Boston. I suspect these type of things are relatively common around areas where old-timey forts and harbors were. [Hamlin Park, Shoreline WA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlin_Park) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/76 "2024-10-21T16:58:36Z")
Just recently I’d noted in another thread how those were the guns that brought Hawaii into the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/77 "2024-10-22T19:34:16Z")
We had a WW1 tank in the aristocratic-landowners-park-that-the-residents-were-permitted-access-to. It was a thank-you for letting the trials of the first tanks take place in the park, away from prying eyes. We used to play in it as children, the shell racks were filled with Coke cans. It was taken away to a museum in the 1960s, it took the army quite an effort to get it out from the trees that had grown up around it. The plinth remained there until more recently, when it was recovered for use somewhere else, and now you would never know there had been anything there. > **[Hatfield House hosts WWI tanks 100 years after trials](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-35893321)** > > A replica World War One tank goes on show at the stately home where the armoured vehicles were first trialled 100 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/78 "2024-10-22T19:45:25Z")
In my small western PA town we have 2 canons from one of the world wars in our park. There used to be one in front of the high school which is long gone. I see this stuff all over my local area. Maybe it’s just western PA. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2024, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/79 "2024-10-23T11:10:52Z")
In the small college town I live in, when we first moved here I noticed a park that had a ton of military equipment displayed - tanks, vehicles, planes, guns, cannons etc… (at least a dozen big pieces) and thought it was plenty strange. I found out later its not a park (although the grounds are park-like and open to the public). It’s a military museum. So mystery solved. Now we have the new mystery of why our small college town has a huge-ass military museum. It doesn’t seem to fit the demographics. I walk my dog there often but one of these days i’ll have to actually go inside the main building and find out. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299/80 "2024-10-23T14:16:30Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > We must have grown up fairly close to each other. The article mentions the FJ Fury at Cabin John park, which I remember playing on several times up through elementary school. I also played on that FJ Fury in the 70’s. You could go in the tailpipe or the nose intake and go through a tube to the other end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-equipment-in-parks/1008299.md?page=5)