WW2 British tanker returns target model to Bovington

The BBC is reporting about a WW2 veteran who has returned a model tank he took from an army camp more than 70 years ago.  According to the article, George Martin, 88, nabbed the small lead Sherman tank used for training from Bovington in Dorset in 1944.  Martin had trained with the 52nd Royal tank Regiment as a gunner for a Sherman tank.  The small lead Sherman tank was part of a training exercise.  Martin kept one of the models as a souvenir, keeping it with him for the rest of his service in Egypt, Japan and Burma until he left the Army in 1953.  The model Sherman then resided on his mantelpiece until he recently decided to donate it to the Tank Museum at Bovington.  According to Martin, “I was worried that if I died it would be thrown away and that its story would be forgotten”.  Commented Tank Museum curator David Willey: “This lead tank is not an item we previously held in the collection and coming to us with such a good story – and the fact it’s been cherished so long by its owner – makes this a very worthy addition to our collections here.”