Many, many years ago the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints came to the museum and made copies of our WWI service cards. They have finally put the cards up on their Family Search website in a FREE, Searchable database!
A link to the cards is below. You do have to sign up for a free account to see the images but all they ask for is name, email, and birthdate. Without signing in you can still see name, dates and some other information but not unit information.
The latest addition to the museum’s outdoor exhibit of armored vehicles has been turning heads and provoking puzzled expressions. “What is that thing?” is a common refrain. And for good reason! The vehicle in question is one of the rarest of World War II tanks – an Australian designed and produced Sentinel AC1 (Australian Cruiser tank Mark I). This is the only tank designed, developed and produced in Australia during World War II and one of only four known to exist.
Work on the Sentinel began during the dark days of November, 1940, when Hitler ruled most of the European continent and the British Empire with its commonwealths stood alone against the Nazis. The English 8th Army was in the midst of dramatic see-saw contest with the German Afrika Korps in Libya and American Lend-Lease supplies were only just beginning to flow to the embattled Allies. With the war in Europe going badly, an ever-more aggressive Japan was in the process of overrunning most of China and war in the Pacific loomed. Fearful of the possibility of a Japanese invasion, the Australians decided to develop their own tank. The result was the Sentinel.
There were several variants of the tank. The AC1 on display at the museum has a 2-pounder main gun, which was common on the Cruiser class of tanks used in the British Army. Secondary armament consisted of two .303 Vickers water-cooled machine guns (hence the oddly shaped gun mantlets in the bow and turret – each designed to encompass the water jacket of a Vickers). With 2.6 inches of armor on the front hull and the turret the Sentinel weighed 12 tons. It was powered by three Cadillac V8 330 horsepower engines that could move the tank at a top speed of 30 miles per hour. The tank had a five man.
The Sentinel was produced by the New South Wales Railway Company. This meant that the Australians slowed production of badly needed locomotives ¬in order to develop the capacity to build the Sentinel. They also experimented with diverse configurations of the vehicle by installing different guns and engines, but in the end only the AC1 was produced. By June of 1943, 65 Sentinels had rolled off the assembly line. However, by that juncture the European War had escalated into a World War with the German invasion of Russia and the Japanese attack on American, British and Australian territories in the Pacific.
With the U.S. in the war and American industry producing tanks, warships, aircraft, munitions and thousands of other items at a breath-taking rate, the need for Australia to build its own tanks disappeared. Indeed, America was making so many Sherman tanks it was able to supply not only its own needs but those of the Western Allies as well. In short, it became easier, quicker and cheaper for Australia to equip its troops with the Sherman than it would be to give them the Sentinel. So the New South Wales Railway Company was told to go back to building locomotives (themselves a vital wartime necessity) and the AC1 passed into obscurity. No Sentinel ever saw combat or deployed outside of Australia.
The Sentinel on display at the museum was purchased from a private collection by Wargaming, Austin which is part of the company that produces the popular World of Tanks and World of Warplanes multi-player online games. They placed the vehicle on loan to the TXMF Museum in October 2014 for an initial period of six months with the option to renew the loan as many times as they liked. We hope and expect that the Sentinel will be with us for quite awhile. But if you want to make sure you get an up close look at this unique and remarkable piece of history, come visit us before it goes away!
The museum has all kinds of artifacts and documents, from tanks and weapons, to uniform and equipment, to documents, to training aids. These four posters were produced during WWII as training aids to teach soldiers about poison gas which has been used extensively during WWI. In addition to their historic importance they also represent the artistic media of the time.
Phosgene:
Usually a colorless gas, poisonous at room temperature, also used to make plastics and pesticides. A suffocating agent it was one of the main gas killers of soldiers during WWI.
Mustard Gas:
Also known as “Sulfur Mustard” it causes blistering of the skin and mucous membranes. It has been used in warfare as recently as 1988.
Lewisite:
A blistering agent like Mustard Gas, Lewisite contains arsenic. It became obsolete in the 1950’s and the last stockpile was destroyed in 2012
Chlorpicrin:
Used in agriculture as a soil fumigant, Chlorpicrin has been used in warfare and for riot control. It is similar in nature to tear gas.
The distinctive insignia which represents the 36th Infantry Division is called the “T-Patch”. It was first approved by the military on November 12, 1918 but not adopted by the 36th until January 16, 1919.
Here is the original drawing submitted to the National Archives
The original T-Patch was very irregular as noted above, there was not a standard design. The museum has many original WWI era T-Patches in the collection and they show the variety of designs being used by the 36th Infantry Division during 1919 and the early 1920’s The design began to be standardized between WWI and WWII in the 1920’s and 1930’s. As can be seen in the last 2 pictures at the bottom of this post.
The T-Patch on the right of the picture above is the one which would be used from 1940 through 1968 when the 36th Infantry Division was replaced with the 49th Armored Division. When the 36th was reflagged in 2004 the T-Patch returned with that same design, but with different versions, such as a desert tan one, and a black, subdued version.
This exhibit tells the story of the Texas National Guard during the Cold War, its peacekeeping missions, the story of the 49Armored Division, and the brave men and women of the Texas Army and Air National Guard who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan during the last decade, as well as those who have helped protect America here at home
Among the items on display in this exhibit are: a large piece of the Berlin wall; Cold War era jeeps and equipment; the helmet worn by the first Texas Guardsman killed in action during the Iraq War as well as the battle damaged window of the Humvee he was riding in when the IED struck; pieces of rubble from the Pentagon hit during the attacks of 9-11; gloves worn by an officer in the 36thCombat Aviation Brigade on every mission he flew in Iraq; a “combat bike built by a member of the 36thInfantry Division while in Iraq, captured enemy weapons; uniforms and equipment used by Texas National Guard troops during operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and much more.
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This gallery tells the dramatic evolution and history of the Texas Air National Guard from its primitive beginnings at the dawn of the 20th Century to its high-tech present.
This Gallery is undergoing major expansion and will not be completed till 2020.
The Texas National Guard fought in every theater of World War II. Although the role of the 36 th Infantry Division in Europe usually garners the most attention, the Texas Guard units that fought in the Pacific made equally outstanding records. This exhibit in the museum’s Great Hall focuses on the history of the 112th Cavalry Regiment and the 124th Cavalry regiment. Serving under General Douglas MacArthur in the Southwest Pacific, the 112th fought its way from New Britain, through New Guinea into the Philippines and was among the first units to occupy Japan . The 124th served in the China-Burma-India Theater of War, making an epic march through mountainous jungles before fighting a vicious battle to drive the Japanese off the Burma Road. Dramatic photographs, displays of weapons, bugles, saddles, radios and other objects used by the two regiments from the 1930s through World War II highlight the exhibit, alongside a 75mm pack howitzer and full scale examples of the uniforms and equipment of mounted Texas Cavalrymen at the start of the war.
The 2nd Battalion of the 131st Field Artillery was shipped to the Pacific at the start of World War II, captured when Java fell to the Japanese, and then disappeared into the Hell of Japanese prisoner of war camps in Burma and Japan . The horrors these soldiers endured while being used as slave labor to construct the infamous “railway of death” and the bridge over the river Kwai is meticulously recounted.
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Outdoor exhibits display a remarkable collection of tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, self-propelled guns, engineer vehicles, helicopters and jet fighters. These exhibits are located around the museum itself and on the parade ground of Camp Mabry.
On Armor Row you will stand in front of: an MGR-1B Honest John tactical nuclear missile; M24 Chaffee light tank; M26 Pershing tank; M48 Patton tank; M60, M60A1 and M60A3 Patton tanks; M1 Abrams tank; M577A2 Command Post Carrier; M75, M59, M113A2 Armored Personnel Carriers; M84 Mortar Carrier; M114 Command and Reconnaissance Carrier; M901A1 Improved TOW Anti-tank Combat Vehicle; M106A1 Mortar Carrier; M981 Fire Support Team Vehicle (FIST-V); LT-LB Soviet Multi-purpose Tracked Vehicle captured in Operation Desert Storm; M578 Light Recovery Vehicle; M919 Mobile Concrete Truck; M105A2, M149A2 and XM107E1 trailers; M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle (CEV) and a D7F Bulldozer.
Along Artillery Park you’ll see: an M7 Priest self-propelled gun from WWII and an M7B1 from the Korean War; a M56 “Scorpion” self-propelled gun; M42 “Duster” self-propelled AA gun; M110A2 8-inch self-propelled heavy howitzer; M108 self-propelled howitzer; M44 self-propelled howitzer; French 75mm mountain howitzer; M101 105mm U.S. howitzer; American M5A1 3-inch anti-tank gun; German 10.5 cm light field howitzer; M1A1 4.5-inch Field Gun (U.S.) and a Soviet M1938 122mm howitzer.
Visit the parade ground to see: an F-16, F-86D “Saber” fighter jet; an F4C Phantom II fighter-bomber; an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter; UH-1M and UH-1H Huey utility helicopters; an M2 155mm “Long Tom” gun (U.S.) from WWII and a Soviet M1946 130mm Field Gun captured in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.
The Great Hall showcases many of the museum’s large artifacts, with vehicles ranging from horse-drawn wagons used in 1901 through the World Wars, the Cold War and the War on Terror. Also found in the Great Hall are exhibits on the Texas National Guard in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Among the artifacts on display are: a Model 1901 Escort Wagon; model 1917 machine gun carts; an M3A1 Stuart Tank; an M4A3 (105) Sherman Tank; an M4 Halftrack, a Kiowa Helicopter; a Cold War-era Mess Truck; L4 Piper Cub Observation Plane; an OH 23 “Raven” helicopter; the entire family of jeeps from World War II through the Cold War; a staff car used by the Adjutant General of Texas throughout the 1970s and 80s; Russian, Japanese, German and Italian anti-aircraft guns; an M29 Weasel; several WWII era German vehicles including a kubelwagens, a SdKfz 251 halftrack, and a “Hetzer” jagdpanzer 38.
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In addition to all the exhibits and equipment we have inside the Texas Military Forces Museum we have over 1 acre of historic vehicles and equipment outside on Armor and Artillery Row or out by the Parade Field ( what you see from MOPAC). This equipment after years of being subjected to the brutal Texas weather, needs some TLC and we have been working on getting that started in the last year.
The 4 pieces of armor up above are getting ready for the move to M.A.T.E.S in Waco for restoration! The M113’s and M114’s vehicles date to the 1960-70 time frame and probably haven’t had a paint job in 30+ years. One the restoration is complete they will return to Armor Row.
This is part of an ongoing project in which soldiers here at Camp Mabry’s shop or at the machine shop in Waco are working to restore all of our outdoor equipment. They have already worked to restore the Chaffee
and the Duster
The M1 Abrams will also be headed to M.A.T.E.S with the M113/M114s next week. We hope to have all of the outdoor equipment restored or at least repaired and repainted in the next 2 years.
