The Search for "Rusty" - Randy Mitchell

When Bob selected the Sheridan to be our first vehicle discussed in the equipment section, it dawned on me that I'd seen one in front of a Reserve / National Guard station somewhere in Georgia.  Try as I might, I could not recall where.  Not knowing where to start, I went to the web and got the number for the Georgia National Guard PAO, LTC Ken Baldowski.  After a brief explanation of what I was looking for and why he said he'd put out the word and see if any leads would pop up.  That same day he contacted me to say that one unit NCO remembered seeing a Sheridan sitting in front of an Army Reserve unit building in Gainesville.  Gainesville lay about 45 minutes NE of my home so the next afternoon I headed out, camera in hand, to locate the unit and get my photos.  When I pulled up in front of the unit all I could see was an aged M60A1.  The unit was deployed but an NCO from the rear detachment listened patiently while I explained my hunt.  Going back inside he contacted some individuals and one remembered the Sheridan and said that it had been given an American Legion post in Winder [about another 35 miles NE].  I returned home empty handed but with a solid lead. 

Several weeks later I had to travel to Columbia, SC and I decided to make a slight detour through Winder.  It was early January and the weather was nice and afternoon was fading as I arrived in Winder.  I got the Legion Post location from a local gas station attendant and drove just outside of town.  There it sat on a concrete pad in front of the building on a lonely side road.  I pulled out the camera and proceeded to take shots of this old warrior now ending its days in rural Georgia.  She's pretty much intact but in bad need of some maintenance and a paint job.  This one still has the swim kit but as you'll see in the photos, it's suffers badly from dry rot.  Maybe someone will take this on as a project and restore her to a semblance of her former beauty.

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