By Stephanie Bunker
Moapa Valley Progress
Amidst drizzling conditions on Saturday morning a group of people gathered at the military tank in Overton to do some community improvement.
Local Boy Scout, Dallin Lytle, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW,) and the American Legion worked throughout the morning to clean off the Walker Bulldog Tank in Overton and prepare it for a new paint job.
The old tank has been on display in front of the Community Center for decades. It will undergo renovation for the next few months. The VFW approached the Boy Scouts about renovating the tank and Lytle took it on as his Eagle Project.
The first step to repainting the old vehicle is to wash it and scrape off all the old paint. When that is complete the VFW plans to a painter to give it a new coat of paint.
The VFW recently held a swap meet to raise funds for the project. The group plans to continue using fundraisers to gain the funds that are needed. Overton Ace Hardware has stepped in to help as well. The store has generously offered to donate the paint for the project.
Lytle also plans on constructing a cement curb to go around the tank. He will also shine up the plaque that stands beside the monument.
Lytle said he wanted to do something for the veterans in the community. He said he feels a connection with this project to the many family members he has that have served the military in the past or are currently serving. His brother is now deployed in Afghanistan with the Army. Both of Lytle’s grandfathers served in the Navy, and his great uncle Harry Perkin’s not only served in World War II, but is also responsible for the tank being here in Overton.
Many years ago, Perkins worked with Senator Howard Cannon to attain a memorial piece from WWII here in Moapa Valley. The only requirement made for local veterans to receive the tank in Overton was that shipping costs had to be paid to get the tank here from Texas. It cost about $1800 by railroad freight.
The VFW and American Legion raised the money and were able to secure the memorial piece. Perkins said that this will be a good project for Lytle to undertake.
“It took an effort from everyone to get it here,” Perkins recalled. “It was marked as a memorial piece and it will be good to update it and keep it as a memento for the community.”
