Unfortunately this tank has moved and the museum has apparently closed.

When Frank Buckles passed away in 2011, with him went the last first-hand accounts an American Soldier could give of World War I. He was the last living doughboy. Even surviving to the age o f 110, he couldn’t live forever.

We have no more Soldiers that can tell that story other than through recording and writing, but we do have their tools; artifacts and equipment that allow us to learn more about what they did and how.

It’s for this reason I can say there’s still a few American Great War combat veterans around… and one of them is French.

When Woodrow Wilson decided it was time to make the world safe for democracy in 1917, the tank was still a new invention and America had none. The American Tank Corps was given tanks by Britain and France and Capt. George S. Patton began training his tankers in the Renault FT in October 1917.

The Renault FT is a small tank, unlike the giant rhomboids used by the British, designed to support the movement of infantry across the battlefield. It weighs a mere six tons, carries its armament in a rotating turret and is crewed by a driver and commander/gunner. More than 4,000 were built and they saw service with France and the United States during the Great War.

One of these tanks is Fort George G. Meade’s “Five of Hearts,” whose bullet-riddled chassis is a testament to its combat service. In the war’s final months it participated in the Battle of St. Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. It’s to the latter offensive that “Five of Hearts” owes its continued existence in a museum.

Five of Hearts was assigned to Company C, 344^th Tank Battalion and derived its name from the practice of assigning playing card suits and numbers to identify tanks.

On Oct. 4, 1918, this tank was part of a line of tanks that lead an attack south of Exermont, France in the Fleville sector of the Meuse-Argonne. Its first crew was driver Corporal Horatio R. Rogers and tank commander Sergeant Arthur Snyder.

Almost as soon as the attack began Rogers was wounded and replaced with another driver. German anti-tank rounds penetrated the radiator causing it to overheat. Snyder pressed the attack anyway and continued supporting the 16^th. Then the second driver was injured and the engine stalled.

The Hun set upon the stalled vehicle with three machine guns. Like a treaded pillbox it took the rounds but protected its crew, who returned fire with high-explosive shells and .45 pistols and kept the Germans at bay. When relieved by infantry, the driver was sent to an aid station and Snyder kept fighting in a different tank. Five of Hearts was recovered the next day.

In total, Five of Hearts took 1300 bullets and its crew took 100% casualties but it helped make possible the needed breakthrough.

It was returned to Camp Meade in 1919 as a monument to the Tank Corps. It spent the next several decades as gate or headquarters guard. Constant exposure to the elements caused deterioration that wasn’t corrected until moved indoors in 1997.

There’s an interesting story in the original driver, Rogers, here as well. He joined the French Army and served as an ambulance driver at the age of 16. He was sent back to the US after his age was discovered, but his parents then allowed him to join the American Tank Corps. His injuries broke his back but he recovered and with a letter of recommendation from Gen. Patton, his World War I commander, he was allowed to rejoin the Army for World War II. He served as a military policeman in North Africa.

His non-military life included attending Harvard and he was the first dean of American University’s Law School. He died of lung cancer in 1958.

Rogers’ children and grandchildren visited his tank in 2014. His grandson had never met him, and said this tank is one of his few connections to him. Men like Rogers, Snyder, or Buckles may not last forever, but thankfully their tools will stay with us a little longer.

Five of Hearts is one of the two highlights of Ft. Meade’s museum, the other being a Mark VIII ‘Liberty’ heavy tank, of which only three survive.

The Ft. George G. Meade Museum is located inside Ft. George G. Meade, Maryland and is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. There is no admission charge but there is a nice little armor collection including an M4A3E8 Sherman, M5 Stuart, M41 Walker Bulldog, M47 Patton and just because, a Nike missile.

While at Ft. Meade the National Cryptologic Museum is also worth paying a visit, if only to play with their Engima machines. So, so many Enigma machines…

Other American museums where one can visit a real FT are the National Armor and Cavalry Museum in Ft. Benning, Ga., National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Mo., and at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Penn. The Kansas City FT is also a combat veteran, but based on its online description it did not serve in the US Army when it fought.

There is also a World War I combat veteran Mark V in restoration at the National Armor and Cavalry Museum.

References:

http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1/fr/renault_ft.php

http://www.ftmeade.army.mil/museum/exhibits/Exhibit_Renault_Tank_Info.html

http://www.ftmeade.army.mil/museum/values/ArmyValues_1.html

http://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland_gazette/ph-ac-gn-tank-1025-20141024-story.html