George Adler talks to museum visitors about the M47 tank restoration.George Adler has spent his summer driving roughly 200 miles every Wednesday up to the 6th Cavalry Museum in Fort Oglethorpe from his home in Marietta. Since May, Adler has been restoring an M47 Patton tank on loan from the U.S. Army which is in the museum’s possession. Tirelessly, he’s handwashed the rust from the World War II-era battle vehicle, pulled open hatches and crafted replacement pieces.
In April, Adler and his wife visited the museum for the first time for an event. He met Joe Barkley, one of the museum’s board members, who took him out back to see the decaying tank in the shed. Adler, who served in the Army from 1975 to 1978 as a loader, gunner and tank commander, was in awe.
Then, he saw kids running around and jumping on top of the tank.
“It was a lawsuit waiting to happen,” said Adler, 62.
But inspiration struck. Adler went to the museum’s executive director, Chris McKeever, that day and offered to restore the massive tank. While McKeever was receptive, she said people often come through the museum and enthusiastically offer to restore items, and that’s the last she sees of them.