Original subtitles

- [Voiceover] In the heart of the Utah desert,

busted up tanks are coming back to life.

During the second World War the M18 Hellcat

was the fastest fighting machine on tracks.

Without breaking a sweat it could leave everything behind

in a cloud of dust.

This Hellcat is being rescued from history's junkyard

for a surprise reunion with the same commander

who drove it over 60 years ago.

(upbeat music)

Smooth, lightning fast, almost able to come out of nowhere.

This is the M18 Hellcat.

During World War Two nothing was more nimble

on the battle field.

If you saw one coming, it was already too late.

- I'm going to tell you what's so cool about the Hellcat.

It's like running around in a powerboat.

You can fishtail the thing, you can run it around

in figure eights and it just goes faster and faster

and you're flying up dirt and you're flying

a big cloud of dust and it's like a sports car

and it's a real smooth ride.

You can go over dips and bumps.

It's the ultimate all terrain vehicle.

- [Voiceover] The M18 Hellcat is just one

of almost 200 pieces of the Carl Smith collection

in Tooele, Utah, not far from Salt Lake City.

Businessman Carl Smith is the man and the money

behind the operation.

Carl is a big fan of tanks.

He's a huge fan of war veterans but he's not a fan

of being in front of the camera

but you're welcome to walk through

what he calls the Sandbox.

Battle scarred tanks don't come back to life on their own.

They need a dedicated crew, radical surgery,

and serious attention to detail.

To make this happen Carl has pulled together

an amazing team.

The man in charge of the metal makeovers is Roger Condron.

He's a 30 year veteran of the restoration scene.

- I take something that's bent, broken, destroyed

clean it up, fix it up, re-manufacture it

and bring it back to what it was or what it would have been.

- [Voiceover] Whenever he needs backup Roger pulls

in a first class crew.

Greg Lloyd worked for over 20 years in a steel plant.

At the tank workshop his nickname is Goose.

- A lot of places where I go the folks will ask me

they say well what is it that you do for a living

and I say well I restore World War Two vehicles

and they kind of look at me like that's a cool job

and boy I'd like to have your job.

- [Voiceover] Randy Killen has created special effects

magic for classic films like Jaws,

Blade Runner and Titanic.

Building scale models in Hollywood was the perfect

training ground for rebuilding 40 ton tanks.

- There's all kinds of things in movies that don't really

exist in real life so you have to come up

with some kind of creative solution to something

that doesn't really exist.

- [Voiceover] Another key part of the tank crew is

writer-historian Geoffrey Panos.

- These guys are very knowledgeable but when I'm needed

I come in and I research for them and I find the various

details about the vehicles, their historical past

and any kind of nuances they want to know about.

So I'm the, yeah I'm the fat historian.

- [Voiceover] And the historian has made an incredible find.

Using this photograph Jeff was able to match the serial

numbers on this M18 Hellcat with the serial numbers

on a Hellcat in Carl Smith's collection.

And to top it off Jeff has actually found the tank commander

who drove this very same Hellcat.

- This tank was 60 years ago in Europe.

It came back to the U.S., was rebuilt, was sent back

to Bosnia, came back to the U.S., we purchased it,

came to Salt Lake and there is a veteran here in Salt Lake

that had a picture of this tank.

- There were 1847 of these Hellcats made with the gun on it.

And so it was a one out of 1847, Vegas odds

that this could have been his Hellcat.

And we believe it is and we've been matching

the serial numbers and we think we've matched them.

- [Voiceover] And almost too good to be true the veteran

is living down the highway in Salt Lake City.

In a few days Carl and his tank crew are going to reunite

the commander with his Hellcat at a victory day party

for veterans.

This means Roger has got a big job on his hands.

In the next few days he's got to take this Hellcat

and get it whipped into shape, battle ready for a veteran

who hasn't seen it in 60 years.

- Our Hellcat here basically all I've really done to it

in the past was sand blasted it and painted it to make it

look good so it looked okay while it was sitting in line.

For our party that we're going to be putting on

for the vets we need to get it running, spruced up,

cleaned up inside, painted, we have to go through the engine

and then get the turret pulled off, make sure everything

operates and works.

- [Voiceover] The M18 Hellcat was not born by chance.

It was designed in the heat of battle to face off against

a deadly enemy.

Europe, 1940, Germany unleashed the most advanced mechanized

force the world had ever seen.

This was the Blitzkrieg.

Brutal lightning strikes across Europe that overwhelmed

everything in their path.

The U.S. Army needed something

to knock out this rolling thunder.

So they created the M18 Hellcat.

Thanks to it's light armor and lightweight radial

aircraft engine the M18 was faster

than anything else on tracks.

Factory production of the Hellcat started in 1943.

It first saw action in the blazing summer of 1944.

Crews loved the M18 for it's speed.

They also loved it's smooth ride thanks to a state

of the art suspension system.

- [Voiceover] The newest track-laying vehicles such

as the 76 millimeter gun armored carriage

employs a new system known as torsion bar suspension.

The upward movement of the arm twists the torsion bar

and it's resistance acts like a spring

in supporting the vehicle.

- [Voiceover] Long after the Hellcat was designed

the U.S. Army's M1 Abrams still relies

on a torsion bar system.

The swing arms enable this 69 ton monster

to travel smoothly at 45 miles per hour.

But even all these years later the Abrams is still

not as fast as the M18 Hellcat.

Able to cruise at 53 miles an hour the Hellcat's speed

was legendary and it had to be.

In the final months of the war, four M18 Hellcats

would play a pivotal role in one of the most important

battles in the entire second World War.

(upbeat music)

Tooele, Utah, just outside Salt Lake City.

It's got mountains, big sky and wide open spaces.

Plus one of the worlds largest private collections

of military vehicles.

- Now we're up to over 180 pieces.

I have a lifetime job sitting right here,

right in front of me.

- [Voiceover] When you're rebuilding tanks you've got

to deal with serious battle scars.

- I do have another one outside that has come off

another bombing range and it's been napalmed.

You know literally burned to a crisp.

It's been burned out, it's been torched,

it's been everything you can imagine.

I don't think even Roger can repair this.

- [Voiceover] But right now Roger's trying to get

this M18 Hellcat ready for a big party

honoring war veterans.

At the party, one of the veterans is going

to be reunited with his Hellcat.

The same Hellcat he commanded in the second World War.

The party is only days away.

When Roger first saw it, the Hellcat was a mess.

- They're open top, so they're rusted inside

and full of twigs and branches and dust and dirt

so they were pretty dirty.

A lot of times they didn't run.

So I had a lot of stuff to start with.

- [Voiceover] Some parts were completely gone.

This is where Randy Killen comes in.

- Usually get a call when they say that they either

have a part that's been rusted out or is actually missing.

If it's rusted out then we'll take it and try

to get the dimensions from reference material books

or if we have a duplicate part, we measure that up,

we put it into a cab system.

A lot of the parts are flat pieces of metal cause

that was the easiest to work with.

If you can get a flat piece and weld it to another piece

or bolt it to another piece then you're a lot faster

than having to mold it so a lot of our parts are recreated

with flat sheets of steel.

Easiest and fastest and most accurate way for us to do that

is by using steel cutting laser.

- We usually make what we call soft skin

or cardboard prototype.

Go back and fit it on the vehicle

to make sure that our measurements are correct.

We bring it back, do any final changes or adjustments

and then go have it made out of steel

or whatever the proper material is.

- [Voiceover] This M18 Hellcat was a ferocious

fighter in the liberation of Europe

but the armored vehicle is not exactly what it seems.

The M18 is in fact a tank destroyer.

- The Hellcat is not actually a tank, it's meant to engage

other tanks, it's not really made to engage infantry

or support infantry.

That's why it has no co-axle done next to the barrel

nor one in the front hall.

It's strictly to kill other tanks.

- [Voiceover] American tank destroyers were designed

to race ahead of an enemy attack

then they would lie and wait to ambush oncoming Panzers.

The M18 was supposed to strike first and then get out fast.

A kind of shoot and scoot approach to battle.

- We were continuously using the Hellcat as

a self-propelled gun, the armament on it

with the 76 millimeter cannon was very effective

and sight on it was such that you could draw

a beat on anything up to two, two and a half miles distance.

- [Voiceover] In 1944 the Hellcat's range made it

a deadly force in combat.

But for today's modern tanks like the M1 Abrams

that's a mere stone's throw.

At the JSMC tank facility in Lima, Ohio.

This M1 Abrams is getting it's sights aligned.

The M1's computer assisted main gun can knock out

enemy tanks over 4,000 yards away.

- The M1 A2 is probably the most sophisticated tank out

in the battlefield.

If you think about it as a computer

being surrounded by armor.

The ballistic computer, basically what it does,

it computes any variable.

We have a wind sensor, a can sensor that

that computer analyzes and it applies that solution

when you fire the round.

So lets say for example that you were firing

on the move, there's lead to be applied right?

Because you're not going to fire where you're aiming.

So the ballistic computer applies that lead and then

adds the solution for wind, can, speed barometric pressure

because the temperature of the round

also has implications too.

So that's how the ballistic computer works.

And it's very fast and it's what makes the tank

as lethal as it is.

- [Voiceover] The M18 Hellcat was invented specifically

to destroy tanks.

The war transformed the Hellcat's role and it was assigned

to provide frontline support to the infantry.

- This Hellcat is one of the most beautiful vehicles

that you could possibly imagine being in combat with.

It was just a pleasure to drive them

because they had such gentle traction and speed.

A very comfortable ride which was like riding in a boat.

Lots of times I remember they moved to convoy

infantry on our tanks across the plains that way.

- [Voiceover] The Hellcat's role change was possible

because it had the shooting power to make that switch.

- Let me tell you about the gun on the Hellcat.

It's the same gun that went on the Shermans.

It's a 76.2 millimeter flat projectory cannon.

The real difference was that the tank destroyer

crews were issued this hot round.

This anti-tank armor piercing round.

And it made the difference knock out enemy tanks.

- [Voiceover] When these high explosive anti-tank rounds

slammed into enemy tanks, they would shoot a super hot jet

of molten steel right through the armor.

The German's responded by adding a sacrificial piece

of plate armor on their hulls.

This extra plate would diffuse the molten jet

and protect the underlying armor and the crew.

Modern armies have a different kind of tank destroyer.

Here, German anti-tank crews use MILAN rockets

to take out targets over two miles away.

These rockets operate on a similar idea of the Hellcat's

high explosive anti-tank rounds.

But they pack a deadly extra punch.

Each rocket is equipped with two warheads.

The first warhead takes out the standoff armor.

The second warhead penetrates the internal armor,

exploding into the crew compartment.

These missiles are guided by wires

so they're control signals can't be jammed

by the enemy.

A thin wire trails behind the rocket allowing the operator

to guide the missile directly to target.

Packed with armor penetrating ammunition the Hellcat

was state of the art in 1944.

American designers thought it's speed

would give the Hellcat nine lives

and sometimes it did.

- It was so maneuverable and had such less mass to push

even it's tracks are thinner.

That's less inertia for the engine to overcome

and spin those tracks again and again.

It gave it such a tremendous speed, a remarkable speed.

- [Voiceover] Don Grindholt was attached to the 603

tank destroyer battalion with the sixth army division.

On one mission in France he was ordered

to take out enemy positions.

- We had come up the road and got onto the field.

I was in the second destroyer at that time.

Something prompted me to make the command.

Tips give her a hard left and he did.

He gave her a hard left and at that same time

I saw a muzzle flash and I turned the gun

and I can still see the smoke of the tracer as it went by

and I felt like I could reach out and touch that shell

as it went by it was that close.

I were lucky that tank was immediately made a left hand turn

it didn't take but just a second but that gunners had

us dead beat on us I know.

- [Voiceover] Hellcats are heavy fighting all the way

from France into Berlin.

No wonder some of the survivors are so battered.

But in the right hands a piece of junk can

become a piece of art.

Randy's duplicated the original mud flaps.

Now it's time to see if they fit.

- How'd they come out?

- Pretty good I believe.

- Have to double check.

- Before you weld that.

- I don't want to be cutting it back off.

- Well let's compare them.

- What do you think?

- Looks good, looks just like it.

- Paint it and we'll see if we can get her on.

- [Voiceover] In battle nothing was faster than a Hellcat.

But that speed came at a tremendous price.

To make the Hellcat as fast as possible

American engineers gave it a very thin hull.

So thin the heavy machinery gun fire

could cut right through it.

Unlike the Hellcats, modern tanks combine

speed and protection.

The M1's armor is a top secret composite

of steel and ceramics.

Strengthened with depleted uranium the M1's armor

is almost indestructible.

- We had a tank in Iraq that took 50 RPG hits

and none of them penetrated.

They pulled the tank back to the assembly area

and it had RPGs darted in it like a cushion.

If I could travel back in time and I had already been

in an Abram man I'd be culture shock.

Think about the survivability of a hit.

Knowing in the back of your mind that

if a German tank hit you, you were going out.

You didn't feel the invincibility that you would have today.

- [Voiceover] With the Hellcat, American tank designers

sacrificed protection for speed.

But that speed could mean the difference

between life and death.

In the middle of winter, up against a huge German offensive

the lightning fast Hellcat would save the day

and help win one of the biggest battles

of the second World War.

Tooele, Utah.

In a few days U.S. veterans will gather here

to be honored by collector Carl Smith and his tank crew.

Roger Condron has to get this M18 Hellcat ready

for inspection by the same man who was it's commander

during World War Two.

No matter how difficult to track down a repair,

the tiny details are critical

to get a first class restoration.

- I'll beat blast everything when I tape off the glass.

I'll paint it and redo my numbers,

replace some of the gauges and it'll probably look

real close to brand new when I'm done.

- The main difficulty in trying to restore

all of this stuff is getting

a lot of the little detail items.

The major components are fairly easily obtainable.

You're just about stuck with what you have

and luckily a lot of times stuff is really good.

You get a lot of satisfaction cause I can make this dash

look just like brand new almost.

And it's something that people really notice.

The paint on the tank doesn't really matter

but when they look inside and see all these nice little

red circuit breakers, see all the little arrows

and what it's for, people are a lot more impressed

by something that has contrast to it instead of just green.

- [Voiceover] To get this Hellcat in driving condition

Roger Condron has to borrow the engine

from the collection's other Hellcat.

Fixing up the Hellcat highlights

a lifesaving design feature.

You don't always win a ware with the biggest gun,

the toughest tank.

Sometimes it's all about who gets back into action first.

- On the Hellcat one of the nice features

it did have was the ease of maintenance.

It had a tailgate that dropped down in the back.

So after about 20 minutes and a couple of guys

you could have a big engine all undone

and ready to pull out.

You could change an oil pump, oil lines,

anything underneath that engine very quickly.

So maintenance on a Hellcat was extremely easy.

- Okay there we go.

- [Voiceover] Rapid field repair gave the allies an edge

when they came face to face

with superior German technology.

- Remember you never fixing a tank in a place like this.

You're fixing it in the mud, you're fixing it in the snow,

you're fixing it under fire.

If you can create a tank that any farm boy or city kid

can fix reliably and get it back into action,

it's going to save his life and it's going to win you a war.

- [Voiceover] Modern tank designers use the same principles

of rapid field repair.

The M1 Abram's power packed design is light years ahead

of it's World War two ancestors.

Now even the most sophisticated tank can be put back

into battle in a matter of minutes.

- If I need to replace an engine or pull and engine pack

from the tank I can do it in approximately 30 minutes

with a good trained maintenance crew.

- [Voiceover] But even with all this smart design,

basic maintenance is still a constant issue

for any tank crew.

- I spend about 75% of my time devoted to maintenance.

It takes a lot of man hours to keep these tanks running

and operational but if you don't have your tanks running

then tanks can't get into the fight

to help out the infantry.

- [Voiceover] There we go.

- [Voiceover] Roger only has a few days to get the M18

ready for the party.

Easy access to the engine makes a big difference.

The M18's engine is design to slide on tracks

for easy access.

Originally built for airplanes the Hellcat's engine

was air cooled.

- The engines in the Hellcat are rather interesting.

They are an aircraft radial, you don't have to mess

with anti-freeze and water and radiators getting shot out.

They all had leaking fluids.

- [Voiceover] But when it came to crew comfort

in winter time the M18's engine was no friend.

Any winter battle in a Hellcat is like fighting

inside a refrigerator.

- That fan is really sucking a lot of air,

so whenever that engines running, it's drawing

outside air in through all the open hatches

and it can be very cold in the winter time.

- [Voiceover] Don Breineholt commanded a Hellcat

during the second World War.

- There was snow on the ground and it was cold.

It was down to, I'd say zero, maybe below I don't know

but it was mighty cold to stay in there

and of course our home was our M18

and a lot of times we would prefer

to take our sleeping bags and sleep on the ground

rather than stay inside the cold tank.

- It's really awful because unlike an infantryman

who can kind of squirm and move around

or move from here to here and maintain some body warmth,

you're sitting in a cage of really cold steel

and you've got to concentrate and you've got to make sure

that enemy doesn't get you and you've got to kill him first.

- [Voiceover] Fighting inside freezing tanks,

Hellcat crews engaged in one of the most decisive battles

of the entire war.

December 1944, pushed to the brink, desperate.

Germany launched a massive counter offensive.

Taken by surprise Allied lines were broken and pushed back.

This was the Battle of the Bulge, fought

in the dead of winter, stretching out over 85 miles

through Belgium and Luxembourg.

This was the largest land battle ever fought

by the U.S. Army.

For the German offensive to succeed, speed was essential.

They have just days to reach the point of Antwerp

and seize Allied field depots before they run out of gas.

This means they have to dominate and control the roads.

- The Battle of the Bulge at least intially was a battle

for the roads and dirt crossroads.

Then it was necessary to take the crossroads

and Bastogne is very important road junction

because you have there seven roads crossing in Bastogne.

- [Voiceover] Bastogne was known as the place

where seven roads to Hell met and crossed.

Four M18 Hellcats would face a do or die moment in the war.

Would they be able to beat back the German onslaught

and hold their line?

In the Utah desert and M18 Hellcat tank destroyer

is getting ready for a party but it needs a new engine.

Roger Condron has salvaged the engine

from the collection's other Hellcat.

Now he's got to make sure it's going to run.

- Okay that's good.

Ready again, ready to go, let's see if we can get her in.

Okay here we go.

- [Voiceover] Even though this Hellcat is easy to repair

the crew still needs to finesse the engine's fit.

Roger tries to connect the drive shaft

to the engine output shaft.

- It is pretty solid.

Where's that real easy button when you need it?

- [Voiceover] It want's to come back a little.

- No it's lined up.

Okay let's try it.

- [Voiceover] Oh there it goes.

- Hey there we are guys, we're in.

- [Voiceover] Starting up a Hellcat

is easier said than done.

This is a World War tank destroyer.

You don't just insert your key and turn on the ignition.

- What we have to do to get the Hellcat started

or basically any radial engine tank started

is a very critical part of the maintenance

and procedure on getting the thing running.

You know crank the engine over fifty times.

What you're doing is clearing the cylinders out

of oil, possibly gasoline, anything else

that might have gotten in there.

Once that is completed you turn your fuel valve on

so you can get your fuel going.

You then turn on your master power switch

so you have power to your started and all your gauges.

- [Voiceover] Playing it safe Roger has fire extinguisher

close at hand.

- If there's any gas in there as soon as it fires

flames will come out so any time you start up

a radial engine you know you need to wary of fuel fires.

Rather be safe than sorry.

Shall we hit it?

- You bet let's give her a go.

- [Voiceover] This is a big moment for Roger

and the whole team.

Will the replacement engine actually work?

- Yeah, way to go!

- [Voiceover] All these years later

that Hellcat doesn't let the crew down.

The tank destroyer is ready for action.

- Boy that was sweet.

- That was, everything looks good back here.

- [Voiceover] I wish they all started like this.

- Alright.

- [Voiceover] I like it when it does that.

- That was an excellent feeling, seeing that baby start up.

The smoke coming out, a little bit of oil coming out,

just the rumble of the engine.

- Well let me turn the fuel off

and we can finish buttoning her up.

- To actually feel it moving for the first time

was a feeling of, it's really hard to describe.

Like getting your first car when you're 16.

Just what a feeling it is to all the sudden be

driving something for the first time,

just an incredible feeling.

- [Voiceover] The Hellcat's noise

and smoke are a small reminder of a tanker's life

during the heat and furry of war.

- It was extremely noisy, it was smelly,

gasoline, motor oil, gun powder, body odor, urine

you smelled it all and it was gruel

and you'd be fighting for hours and hours

and you're constantly worrying

about your ammunition supply,

constantly worrying about enemy troops

and Panzer Faustus.

You're constantly trying to maintain contact

with your own forces and you're looking

through a tiny para-scope.

It seems all too small when your in battle

and you're trying to locate the enemy.

You're trying to fight him and trying

to maintain your sense of direction

and your sense of purpose and fight back.

- [Voiceover] When the Hellcat was moving through battle

the crew had a unique angle on the action.

Hellcat tank commanders surveyed the ground

from an open turret.

- In armored combat, he who sees the other enemy first

has a much greater chance of shooting at them

and hitting them.

The open top to the tank destroyer allowed the crew

to see out and see the enemy tank,

and fire and hit it.

- I'm sure that everyone was in those positions

and sometimes thought well you're aiming

like a sitting duck up here.

Some sniper could sure pick you off.

Easy that way, I feel very fortunate

to have gone all the way from Umo beach

clear til we met the Russians in exposed position.

I was the gunner for the first week

and then on as the gun commander

up in that position there.

- [Voiceover] Hellcat commanders fought the war

from a dangerously exposed position.

The M1 Abrams employs a design feature

to keep it's crews protected at all times.

It's called the common remote operating system or CROS.

- The CROS system is a remote weapons station

which the tank commander can fire from inside the turret.

Now what these systems are designed to do is

to keep the crews inside the turret of the tank

so that they are not exposed to enemy fire.

And it allowed the crew to survive in urban environments

along with being very lethal.

- [Voiceover] Hellcats were an open window

on the battle field.

When it comes to sighting and tracking today's enemy targets

the M1 gives the crew a whole new set of eyes.

- The most impressive function or piece of equipment

on this tank to me is the CITV, the commander's

independent thermal viewer.

It enables us to pretty much identify more targets than one.

I can be looking off to the right side while the gun

is looking off to the right side

and as soon as I see something I can designate the gun

to what I'm looking at.

And also I have thermal imaging and that picture

is just so much better than what the gunner's looking at.

You can zoom in and out and it's just more easy to control.

- If I was the enemy, if I saw a formation

of Abrams tanks coming for me, I'd turn and run.

When you get on top of it,

you're going 30 miles per hour and you're firing on the move

you feel invincible.

- [Voiceover] December 1944, the Battle of the Bulge

is thundering through Belgium.

The Germans are desperate to move as far as possible,

as quickly as possible.

Outside the small town of Noviel, German Panzers close in.

But four Hellcats are standing in the way.

In the face of overwhelming odds the M18's

stop the German advance.

Thinking Noviel is held by a sizable Allied force

the commander pulls back to regroup.

His mistake will cost several days.

Days the German army could not afford.

That critical delay allowed the Allies

to move in reinforcements.

They were able to hold the strategic town of Bastogne

just south of Noveil.

Thanks in part to the M18 Hellcat.

- I think that they played a very important part

in Noviel among the 25 German tanks destroyed in Noviel

probably most of them were destroyed by the tank destroyers.

- That was great.

First time out of the shop.

Everything works, my fuel cut off switch worked, everything.

- It goes a lot faster than I thought I'd go.

- Wait til I get into third, that's 30 to 60.

- [Voiceover] Roger and Goose have the Hellcat running

but there's still one problem left

and it's a big one.

The turret still has to be fitted and with the party

just days away, time is about to run out.

Tooele, Utah, Roger Condron and Greg Lloyd are getting

ready to put the finishing touches on this M18 Hellcat.

- [Voiceover] Okay straighten out.

- [Voiceover] For one veteran at the upcoming party

it's going to be a once in a lifetime surprise.

- Come on in, just forward just a little bit.

- [Voiceover] But one last piece has to be fitted

before the Hellcat is ready and it's a massive piece,

the turret.

This turret weighs roughly 5,000 pounds.

The diameter spans about 68 inches.

A perfect fit is absolutely critical.

No one can afford to make any mistakes right now.

They spent too much time making this Hellcat look like

it just rolled off the factory floor.

- Okay she's down, I think we got it.

- [Voiceover] Good, good deal.

- That's great.

- That's great.

- Okay, thanks Goose.

- [Voiceover] Roger and Goose may have

the Hellcat's turret back on but will it work?

- Okay I'm ready.

- [Voiceover] All these years later

the Hellcat doesn't disappoint,

once again it's battle ready.

For most of these tanks their stories will remain forever

buried on the battle field but every now and then

a small clue can suddenly rise to the surface.

This is the turret from another tank

getting prepped for a paint job.

- Okay brad, that looks pretty nice.

That's got it just about where I need it,

got a little bit of green tint, a little bit of primer

but that's just fine, that won't hurt.

There's no rust left on it.

Never find out the history on this particular turret

but sometimes we do, oh well.

- [Voiceover] When it comes to buried history

the serial numbers can unlock the past.

- [Voiceover] Look at that.

- There are some numbers on there that weren't on there

but I don't know what they are.

- [Voiceover] Roger and his crew made a similar discovery

with their Hellcat.

- On our tanks here, sometimes you're lucky,

sometimes your not.

On our Hellcat we were able to figure out

what our manufacturer serial number was.

At that point Jeff Panos used the serial numbers

to track down the Hellcat's history.

Unbelievably, Jeff discovered that the Hellcat

in the collection was actually driven

by a retired veteran living just a few miles away

in Salt Lake City.

- We have a man here in Salt Lake City in Utah

Who happened to command Hellcats

and all through the Battle of the Bulge

and all the way from Normandy to Germany.

Just hearing the news I mean it ran chills up my spine.

Just mind boggling that we have something

that he actually had his hands on personally

in 1945.

- [Voiceover] That tank commander was Don Breinholt.

As Don and the other Veterans arrive for the party,

Roger's crew is about to make a dream come true.

- The last I saw it was in May 20th or something like

that 1945.

- Okay so that would be 61 years ago.

- And so we want to show you something.

- We open up the garage and there was the Hellcat

and he was overwhelmed.

- Oh man, what a beauty that is.

You know that gave me a lot of thought.

I never even dreamt of seeing an M18 Hellcat again.

It was a beautiful pickle and I would often

often wondered what happened to all those M18 Hellcats.

It's amazing after 61 years, thank you.

- [Voiceover] How would you like

to take a ride in one again?

- That would be fun.

- And the most amazing thing about for old Breinholt

was he walked right up to the Hellcat

and he says this is how you get into a Hellcat

and at the age of 87 years old he put his foot right

on the bogey he grabbed the proper hand hold

and he climbed right up into the turret.

He was riding around and he came back

and we asked him what do you think

and he pounded the top of the turret yelling faster faster.

So Roger took him around again going faster and faster.

He was delighted and his wife told me she'd never seen

a grin on his face that wide in maybe 20 years.

- That was something else, it was

a familiar feeling for sure.

I just really enjoyed it.

We had a good driver too.

That brings back a lot of memories,

brings back a lot of memories.

This machine gun ring here was my place in combat.

This is how much I was exposed all the time in combat.

And of course we were ducking down a lot of times too

but I was exposed to a lot of fire.

It makes you duck down when you start hearing

bullets shells coming over the top of you

cause they make a crack, they make a pop sound

as they go by you.

- [Voiceover] One M18 Hellcat tank destroyer brought back

to life, one tank commander reunited with his tank.

Mission accomplished.

(upbeat jazz music)

Now it's time to the men and women who fought for freedom

on a distant battle field.

- These were young brave courageous men.

They knew the world was at war,

they knew they had no choice.

I have the highest regard for these men.

- [Voiceover] When the party's over, the tank crew

will get back to their passion,

saving these war machines from history's salvage yard.

And this is one mission they hope never ends.

- In a job like this there probably is no retirement

for something you really truly love

there is no retirement.

(upbeat music)