- A fire engine from World War II will be donated and restored for display at the Dale Mabry Army Airfield Museum.
- The 1940 Holabird Pumper was rediscovered at a Tallahassee salvage yard.
- Watch the video to find out how it got there and what's next.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A historic World War II discovery right in our backyard.
“This thing should be vegetable cans but it’s not and we couldn’t be more thrilled that it’s not a vegetable can," says Chuck Wells, Chair and CEO of Dale Mabry Army Airfield Museum Inc.
The 1940 Holabird Pumper was found sitting in a local salvage yard.
I'm Kenya Cardonne, your Southeast Tallahassee neighborhood reporter, digging into how this discovery was made and what neighbors are doing to carry its history further.
The Holabird Pumper was picked up Friday from Leon Iron and Metal South Yard.
The question is.. how did it get there?
It dates back to World War II, when Tallahassee's Dale Mabry Field Airport became an Army Air Base for tens of thousands of fighter pilots to use as training grounds.
"We know that there were approximately 200 deaths at Dale Mabry Field from airplane crashes and many of them were right on the runways. This would be one of the 'fire eaters' that would be sent out immediately to put those fires out," says Wells.
A museum is in the works onsite of the base, where Tallahassee State College now sits.
CEO Chuck Wells tells me the firetruck's journey through Tallahassee doesn't stop there, adding, "in 1978, the City of Tallahassee was ready to get rid of it and they valued it at $50. Somebody said 'let's make a display out of it' and put it out at Messer Field and let kids play on it."
One of the kids who used to play on it..
Roshuan Ballard, Manager at Leon Iron and Metal South Yard - "Yeah, it's a lot smaller now, I don't fit so well."
..Just so happens to be the Manager at the very salvage yard the truck was rediscovered.
Roshuan Ballard says, "this truck wasn't just a truck, it was a tank, it was everything, it flew, it did it all."
He tells me he finds comfort in knowing that what provided him a mental escape during his childhood and now as an adult working at the scrapyard — is being preserved.
"It's good to bring history back alive and Tallahassee is full of history," says Russell Deese, Owner of Russell’s Military Vehicles.
After the salvage yard's owner agreed to donate the truck to the museum, a restoration team in Cairo, Georgia is donating the time, labor and materials to make the Holabird look like it did in the 40's.
Kevin Vislocky, President of Military Machines of American Freedom says, "personally, I think this is just an amazing find that after all these years, here's a piece of Tallahassee's history that's still here."
The restoration project could take six months to a year to complete.
Deese adds, "we'd love to hear from the guys that had something to do with this truck too! They may be alive."
They tell me there are only 17 of these fire trucks in the entire country, none of which are in running condition.
In Southeast Tallahassee, Kenya Cardonne, ABC 27
