Lincoln and Welland Regiment Monument “Press On”

The tank is a late production M5A1 (registration number CT271427), with periscope guards on the driver’s and co-driver’s hatches, a storage box in the rear, and a mixture of open spoked and solid road wheels. Access hatches have been welded on to keep children from playing inside the tank and injuring themselves.Originally, the tank had belonged to the British Columbia Regiment. It had been disabled by a mine in Holland in February 1945 and was abandoned by the BCRs (some accounts incorrectly state that it belonged to the South Alberta Regiment). The Pioneer Platoon, under Sergeant Roy Johnson of Niagara Falls, was able to get it started and it was decided to convert it to a command post for the CO, Lieutenant Colonel Rowan Coleman.The tank was taken to a RCEME workshop where the turret was removed and two 30-calibre machine guns were mounted on the old turret ring to provide some punch" to the vehicle. The CO then used the tank for reconnaissance purposes