SUMTER, S.C. — A Cold War-era M48 Patton tank has gotten a much-needed makeover and is back outside Patton Hall at a South Carolina Air Force base. Now it’s back on display at the U.S. Army Central Command’s headquarters on Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter.
“The effects of the sun and weather are pretty harsh to a vehicle sitting out in the elements every day for a decade,” Michael Clauss, command historian, told The Post and Courier of Charlotte. “The paint was faded, but more telling, we were starting to see the rust and other signs that it was time for this restoration project.”
The M48 was introduced to the Army in the 1950s and was used extensively in Vietnam. This tank was the mascot for Patton Hall at Fort McPherson in Atlanta until a base realignment brought it to South Carolina in 2011.
The base didn’t have an appropriate maintenance unit to restore the 50-ton tank, which was trucked to at the Logistics Readiness Center in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Contractors for the 1st Theater Sustainment Command stripped the paint, removed rust and added sealant to make it watertight, then repainted and stenciled it.
