Amphibious military vehicle at Lost Trail Winery honors veterans and thrills attendees
MARLBORO TWP. – The engine of the Landing Vehicle Tracked 4 roared and rattled as the tank-like military vehicle eased its way into the muddy water of a pond.
The 29,000-pound amphibian vehicle’s track chewed up the seaweed and mud as it propelled its riders forward. Children manned the vehicle’s inactive machine guns as owner Tom Price of Bowling Green steered it through the water to demonstrate the power and precision of the amphibious vehicles that U.S. Marines have been using in combat since 1942.
Price’s vehicle, built in 1945 and used as a prop in the movie “Flags of Our Fathers,” will be part of Marlboro Township’s Memorial Day parade on Monday.
But on Saturday, it served as a vehicle to remember the past and inspire the future.
Lost Trail Winery and Vineyard featured the amphibious vehicle at its Honor the Fallen event on Saturday as it recognized the men and women who have died while serving in the military.
The event, organized by winery owner and former U.S. Marine Sgt. Christopher Rohr, gave a special mention to the roughly two dozen Marines from the Ohio-based Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines and 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion who died in Iraq in 2005. Many of them died when their amphibious assault vehicle hit a roadside bomb.
“Today is not about those of us who are here, who are above ground walking around, or even those of us who aren’t doing it so well anymore,” retired U.S. Marine Colonel John B. Atkinson said. “It’s about those we knew and those we didn’t that aren’t here, that were killed in battle going all the way back to the American Revolution through today in Syria and other places.”
Atkinson, now a professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, said it was fitting for Rohr to invite him to Ohio to reflect on the service of military members.
“Ohio is one of those states that pumps a lot of young men and women into the military,” he said. “They go forward and follow their comrades into battle. They fight and they fight well.”
Retired U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj. Justin Lehew, an Ohio Military Hall of Fame inductee, encouraged everyone to pay their respects to those who were killed in service but also to have fun.
“They want you to have barbeques, they want you to have fun,” he said. “They want your children to have fun. They want you to have fun in honor and memory of them because they can no longer be there to do that.
“How do I know that? Because if that was me, that’s what I would want. I wouldn’t want everyone just standing around with tears running down because that is not who we are as a nation.”
Lehew and Atkinson are both leaders of an effort to build a memorial that honors the Marines and sailors who manned the U.S. Marine Corps landing and amphibious assault vehicles since 1942.
Their association, the Amphibious Tractor Association, or AmTrac, is raising $500,000 to build the memorial that will be placed on the Heritage Walk at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia, near Marine Corps Base Quantico.
Peg Lee, who designed the memorial, said the association is halfway to its fundraising goal.
The winery at 5228 State St. NE donated 20% of its sales over the weekend to the association. Beyond the weekend, Rohr, who had served with Atkinson in the Marines, is donating 20% of the sales of two wines he developed for the association – Center Beach (Chardonnay) and Roebling Red. Donations for rides on Tom Price’s amphibious vehicle also were donated to the association.
Donations also can be made to the association at amphibioustractormemorial.com.
Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Lost Trail Winery, Amphibious Tractor group recognize Memorial Day
