Original subtitles

(dramatic orchestral music)

- [Narrator] The M24 Chaffee.

Some say, this was the best liked tank of World War Two

and beyond.

In Vietnam, the French fought with it

at the desperate siege of Dien Bien Phu.

- Each tank was disassembled into 180 components.

These were then flown to Dien Bien Phu,

reassembled on the airstrip in the most appalling conditions

- [Narrator] Miles away, a local collector races

against the clock to rebuild a Chaffee

and run it in the annual 4th of July parade.

- I got oil on the ground; I got a problem.

- Every vehicle we've had has run on the 4th of July

no matter what it took.

- You definitely got a lot of work ahead of you.

- Are you a politician or a mechanic, yes or no?

Are we gonna make it, yes or no?

Are you runnin for president?

- No, it'll make it.

- Okay, will you make it?

- Yeah, I'll glue it on.

- Turn that damn thing off.

(intense electronic music)

(light drumbeat)

(engines revving)

- A tank's engine is as critical as the gun or armor

but they cause many more headaches.

Engines have to powerful enough to move tons of heavy metal.

But they've got to take up as little space as possible.

Engines need to be protected,

but this makes it very difficult to get deep

inside them quickly.

And when you do get inside, the work is slow

because the components are crammed in so tightly together.

What takes minutes to repair in a car,

can take hours in a tank.

So when something in the engine breaks down,

it can mean a marathon repair job.

June, Marin County, California.

This is Joe Garbarino's military vehicles collection.

I caught this out of England.

This is one of the last tanks brought in from overseas.

You can't bring any tanks in.

They call them weapons of mass destruction.

- [Narrator] Every 4th of July, Joe has a mission.

He shows off his collection on the main street

of Novato, California.

Three weeks beforehand, his volunteer crew prepare

this massive fleet.

- All ten tanks have to be thoroughly gone through,

every battery checked, every engine checked,

every transmission, every fluid check on every machine,

we do our darndest to make sure,

every one of these tanks get in that parade.

(engine revving)

- [Narrator] The M24 Chaffee,

this is of Joe's favorite tanks, a prize in his collection

and one of the stars on July the 4th.

But as long time friend and project manager Gary Ghilotti,

gives the Chaffee one final check,

the writing is on the wall.

- We got on oil well upside down.

- [Narrator] The engine can't wait.

- [Gary] We have a transmission failure.

- [Narrator] The call has been made.

And with only three weeks to go, the crew will be working

around the clock to get this tank ready for July 4th.

(dramatic music)

The M24 is one of the greatest light tanks ever designed.

It ways just under 19 metric tons.

It boasts a road speed of 56 kilometers

or 34 miles per hour, faster than the Sherman or the Tiger

or later models of the Panther.

And its gun means serious trouble for the enemy.

- It had a 75 millimeter gun that was as good as

the 75 millimeter in the Sherman tank.

It also had very, very good mobility.

It had good top speed, very maneuverable.

- I always wanted a Chaffee tank because it's,

that was a real beauty.

The GIs loved it.

It was quick and it was fast, very reliable.

- [Narrator] The M24 was burn because its predecessor,

the M3 Stewart didn't measure up in the heat of battle.

- The U.S. Army had a light tank at the beginning of the war,

the MS Stewart, but by the time that it got

into combat service in 1942 in Tunisia, it was obsolete.

The armor was too thin, the gun was too small.

(engines revving)

In 1943, the U.S. Army ordered a new light tank.

They turned to what was then the center

of the automotive universe, Detroit.

- The automotive industry had lots of engineers.

So Chrysler came up and designed the M24 very, very quickly

in the space of six months.

- [Narrator] The M24 was named after U.S. General

Adna Romanza Chaffee, one of the pioneers of armored warfare

The fast, powerful Chaffee would largely miss the war

it was built to fight.

- It didn't see combat until Christmas of 1944

and even once it got into combat it got into combat

in small numbers.

- [Narrator] Roughly 5000 rolled off the assembly line

and although the Chaffee missed most of World War Two,

it would serve afterwards in Korea and beyond

to the 1971 Indo-Pakistani Conflict.

- The M24 tank is very, very famous simply

because so many survived.

The U.S. Army supplied it to many, many armies.

It stayed in service for very, very many years.

There's probably still some M24s out there somewhere

still serving in some small Army in some country

somewhere in the world.

- [Narrator] Joe is a proud American.

The reason he does all this is to honor the soldiers

who fought in these incredible machines.

- I started this out about 20 years ago collecting a Jeep,

not knowing I would be collecting up to

close to 80 military vehicles.

We've got weapons carriers, we've got Italian vehicles

in here.

How would you like to be on this thing firing all four?

(machine gun rattling)

(laughs)

- [Narrator] Joe can afford to rebuild military vehicles

because he is the king of recycling in Marin County.

I call it the Palazzio di Immondizia,

which means in Italian, the Palace of Garbage

and what we do here is remarkable because we,

we recycle between 65 and 70 percent of all the waste

that goes in and we've got about six or seven hundred

public vehicles a day that go in.

- [Narrator] The official name for Joe's palace of garbage

is Marin Sanitary Service.

In this palace, Joe is commander-in-chief.

- I was born and raised in North Beach in San Francisco.

My dad was a scavenger.

It was just a way of life.

People just dump everyday

and I'm making a post-consumer product out of it.

I'm making a product that I can sell to somebody

that they're willing to par money for.

- [Narrator] Joe commands a small army, about 240 employees.

But Joe recycles much more than other people's garbage.

- We're at my World War Two military museum

and it used to be a truck port.

I just extended it, put a roof on it, and a garage door

and I started housing my different vehicles in it.

- [Narrator] To keep his collection in running order,

Joe has pulled together a 1st class tank crew.

- I've got a great crew.

I couldn't do it without out 'em

and they're all volunteers on the tanks.

- [Narrator] Long time friend Gary Ghilotti

runs his own construction company.

- I've driven all these tanks.

I've worked on all these tanks.

I've hauled all these tanks on our own heavy-low beds

and chained 'em down and run 'em and scratched 'em.

- [Narrator] The man at the center of every restoration

is Ed Nave.

Ed knows every nut and bolt and the very guts

of these vehicles.

- Eddie has the same passion that I have for the tanks.

- The last 21 years I've been doin it.

Ever since Joe and I got together

and he bought his first tank and his Jeep and his truck

and I've been restorin 'em since then

and my family the last ten years,

since they started growin up have all help me change tracks.

We've done everything you can believe, put engines in,

weldin, put turrets on.

We've had a lot of fun.

- I'm his right hand man.

I pass him the tools and get chewed out

when I make a mistake.

- No Gary Ghilotti, I went to high school with him.

He's always been a character.

- What's the status?

- Okay, I'm gonna give you - What's the status?

- the full report.

I mean he likes to get in there and gets aggressive

but when I first, he came out here on a Saturday one day

and tried to help us put tracks on

and he cut up his arms, legs, everything

trying to think being a mechanic.

And so we trained him.

He's now, he's a pretty good mechanic now

but he still, he doesn't like takin orders very well.

But I enjoy yellin at him.

- [Narrator] Gary and Ed are joined by a father

and son team, Carlos and Christian Garcia.

- We came here nine years ago from Guatemala.

We used to have a welding shop.

- They can weld, they can fabricate.

They're really good guys to have in your corner.

I mean, they can make anything.

Any time we need something made,

we all get ourselves together, put it down, draw it

and Carlos and Christian make it, paint it,

do all the body work, do all the decallin.

They're very excellent people.

Great team.

(saw buzzing)

- [Narrator] Together, this team keeps these vehicles

in running order and they run for a reason.

But right now, the star M24 Chaffee is out of service

and the 4th of July is just weeks away.

- [Joe] Well with the personnel that we got here,

we're gonna do it.

It's gonna run down main street in Novato, California.

- Right up to the wire Pisan.

- That's right.

- We're gonna be right up against the gun

on this one again.

They ought to be start, run, tested.

We have to check the fuels.

We have to check for fire and then we have to find

out which ones don't run, don't run very well.

(metal crunches)

- [Narrator] To get the Chaffee moving again,

Joe pull in every one he can off of other projects.

Father and son team Carlos and Christian Garcia

start ripping out the back and taking every piece apart.

The guys are joined by Gabriel Romero.

This is going to be a major tank overhaul.

- Gotta pull the radiator, pull the fan,

pull the engine, pull the transmission,

pull the transmission apart, pull the bands

'cause it won't move.

(speaks in Spanish)

- [Narrator] This delay is a major setback.

There is a long line of other vehicles in Joe's collection

waiting to be inspected and primed.

They are all put on hold, while the crew deals

with the Chaffee.

(shells exploding)

Coming up, some Chaffees never made it home.

A handful were stranded after one

of the most vicious battles of the 20th century.

(fast-paced dramatic music)

San Rafael, California.

Joe Garbarino's platoon of volunteers

is getting more and more nervous about the looming deadline,

July 4th, now under three weeks away.

The star tank, the M24 Chaffee is leaking.

They still don't know where it's leaking from or why.

Even when they drain it, the problem seems

to be getting worse.

- Now the drain plug is out.

I don't like what I see.

When I see green, on top of transmission.

Green is the coolant.

The coolant on top of oil is not good.

You don't mix 'em.

- [Narrator] Part of the problem is intrinsic

to tank engines.

In a typical cross country drive,

a tank's engines are overworked.

The drive is constantly changing gears and using high revs.

It's not like driving down a smooth highway

on cruise control.

And even with the expected wear and tear,

the M24's engine is over 60 years old.

It's going to need massive surgery.

The Chaffee has two engine and transmission sets,

one per track.

Developed in 1939 for the Oldsmobile,

the hydromatic was the first fully automatic transmission

used in passenger cars.

It was later re-commissioned for the war effort

and was used in the M5 Stewart first

and then later in the Chaffee.

Taking apart the engine, Joe's team zeroes in

on the source of the problem.

- The transmission is right here.

We had to pull this all apart 'cause the actual seal

behind the converter, it burned up.

After 50 years, you can still see the number.

- [Narrator] As Ed digs deeper and deeper into the engine,

he comes across a single worn-out seal.

20 tons of tank have been taken out by a few grams of metal

and leather.

- It's rusted solid and it's as you can see

it's not pliable anymore.

Plus the water has rusted it

so the spring doesn't function either.

(drill whirring)

- [Narrator] With the engine in pieces,

Ed is going to go flat out and work on the assumption

that fixing this piece will get the Chaffee

back on its feet.

- Now it's a little four dollar part

but that little four dollar part requires weeks of work

to find out what caused it, fix the cause,

put that seal back in, now rebuild the whole back

of that tank and put it all back together again.

Weeks of work.

- [Narrator] The Chaffee needs a genuine World War Two seal

or a modern equivalent.

But hunting for tank parts can be a full time job.

- Couldn't find the parts anywhere locally,

couldn't buy 'em in San Francisco at any place.

So then we started huntin our own parts down

through military dealers and stuff like that

and museum guys.

- [Narrator] The team turns to Garborino's parts guru,

Bob Penn to source out the seal.

A veteran of the Korean War,

Bob is no stranger to the demanding situation.

- What'd he say about, oh are you gonna call him from here?

- [Brent] Yes sir.

- Hey um, all the seals that we had have backings to 'em

like an oil seal does, but you're saying that

that'll work?

- [Brent] Yeah.

- I'll go off your word.

Okay, I will put it in.

I appreciate it, thank you.

- Let me talk.

- Alright here's Bob back again Brent.

- [Narrator] With the seals in the mail,

the question remains, will they work?

But waiting around is no option.

Joe's team must forge ahead with the growing mountain

of work getting the other tanks ready.

- [Ed] Well there's probably 66 that'll go in the parade.

There's only 11 tanks, so those are my first priority,

to get all the tanks done.

- [Narrator] This Stewart will be rolling directly

in front of the Chaffee on the 4th of July.

The Chaffee is the direct successor to the Stewart

in light tank design.

It addresses many of the Stewart's weaknesses

in armor and fire power.

The Chaffee increased the thickness and slope of its armor,

upped its gun from a 37 millimeter to a 75 millimeter,

and added the torsion bar suspension,

the first for an American tank.

Where the Stewart failed, the Chaffee succeeded.

The tracks on this Stewart must be replaced.

Over 60 years old, the rubber that makes up tracks pads

are so worn, the tank's 14-plus tons of weight

rip up the pavement.

- We're flipping and using the the road wheel side

'cause it's like brand new.

So we'll get another ten years out of it.

Once you start heatin and beatin 'em,

you have to pull 'em apart,

sometimes you need a jackhammer,

sometimes we've used presses, come along.

Three down, 250 to go.

(shells exploding)

- [Narrator] In a valley in northern Vietnam,

you can come face to face with a ghost.

This rusted Chaffee is a lingering echo

of the blood soaked Battle of Dien Bien Phu

fought between the French and the Vietnamese.

(speaking Vietnamese)

The winter of 1953,

for seven years the Vietnamese resistance movement

including local communists fought a war of independence

against their colonial master, France.

(speaking Vietnamese)

Anxious to hold back the threat of communism in Vietnam,

the United States backed up the French war machine.

- In 1950, the Americans began to re-equip

the French army with many new pieces of equipment

not least of which was the M24 Chaffee.

(speaking French)

- [Narrator] To lure the Viet Minh out into the open,

the French decided to fortify a remote base

near the village of Dien Bien Phu.

This was deep in the heart of guerrilla territory.

- The base at Dien Bien Phu was in the middle of nowhere.

It was over 500 kilometers from Hanoi.

- [Narrator] The french assembled 16,000 troops,

massive amounts of artillery, and ten Chaffees.

But there was only one way to deliver this payload

to the distant garrison.

- All the men and all the equipment had to be flown

into the base at Dien Bien Phu and that included the tanks.

- [Narrator] There's only ten days left

before the big July 4th celebration.

Some 40 different military vehicles are scheduled

to run down main street.

The team has just received their replacement oil seals

from Bob Penn's suppliers.

- I think there are actually pre-seals.

Notice how there's no steel back?

I think we're still at square one.

Actually, this is like square ten.

I wouldn't even trust puttin these in.

Not even if I silicon.

Thanks Bob. - Okay.

- We're still in cluster (beep) mode right now.

But we gotta get it done.

We still don't have the right seal.

- [Narrator] Coming up, with the correct seal still at large

and July 4th looming, Joe and his crew face the fact

that for the first time, the Chaffee may not make the parade

- I'm gonna fire all you people that work for free

and start over.

(birds screeching)

- [Narrator] With less than two weeks before the big parade,

Joe Garbarino's crew is doing every thing they can

to overhaul the Chaffee's engine.

Bob Penn is looking for parts.

Gabriel is welding a new bracket

that will eventually hold the engine in place

and Ed Nave's youngest son Mario is repairing old bolts.

- In some of these bolts are stripped

and 'cause they been on the tank for a while.

So I'm just makin new threads on 'em.

- [Narrator] Hoping to salvage spare parts,

Bob Penn has brought in two used transmissions

but both have arrived in worse shape

than the one Ed was trying to repair.

- This one had actual water in it

when we pulled it apart and it looks like

it must've sat in the rain just recently

because it had fresh water in it.

But it already had started to decay it all.

So we were hopin we got a good transmission,

which didn't happen.

- [Narrator] In between working on the Chaffee's engine,

Ed and his team continue to overhaul the Stewart's tracks.

Project manager Gary Ghilotti has been out of the loop

for the past few days.

The volunteer crew has move ahead flipping the tracks.

It's a time consuming process.

- [Ed] We're flippin 'em over and makin it like new.

- Jesus Crimey, I thought we had enough of this last year.

- [Ed] No, we're doin it again.

We didn't wanna hurt your feelings.

- [Narrator] And Gary doesn't even know the worst of it

until this very moment.

- [Ed] We didn't get the seal yet either

for the transmission.

- What?

- We got five different ones but they're not the right ones.

So I put it together with the wrong one

but they're getting somethin out of Texas,

original equipment.

- [Gary] Well why don't you make one?

- I did, it's in there.

- And it's wrong?

- Well it's not exactly right.

- I'm gonna fire all you people that work for free

and start over.

- You think so?

- Where have you been Gary?

We've been here waitin for ya.

We didn't know what to do.

- I've been lookin for the unemployment line Joe,

I've never been there yet.

The unemployment line. - Oh okay good.

- Yeah, I can't find any work.

I can't buy work, I can't pay for work.

How many days we got left?

- Not very many but the point.

- Will you make it?

- Yeah, I'll glue it on.

(engines revving and shells exploding)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] The M24 Chaffee was built for combat.

A scrappy fighter, this tank's versatility

allowed it to take on a variety of missions

in the theater war.

- Light tanks are used mostly on secondary missions.

They're used for all intents and purposes

on what used to be called cavalry missions.

They do the scouting mission, they do reconnaissance,

they do flank security.

Where you need speed, you use a cavalry vehicle

and that's really what the M24 light tank was.

(engines roaring)

- [Narrator] The Chaffee's speed and agility,

made it an excellent battlefield recon vehicle.

A roll that today's U.S. Army consigns to the M2 Bradley.

- The job of a reconnaissance soldier, cavalry soldier

is still the same.

Go out forward, identify what the enemy is doing,

where they're at, send back size, activity, unit location,

all those things so the commander can paint a picture

and make a decision.

Alls we've changed over the years is put

different systems around them

and different platforms around them and more technology.

- On today's battlefield, what can be seen can be hit.

What can be hit can be killed.

- [Narrator] Staff Sargent Jeff Parker is a cavalry scout

with the U.S. Army, where he saw front line action in Iraq

from inside his Bradley.

- We went all the way out to the Jordanian border

in which we lived off of our Bradley fighting vehicles

for six to eight months.

The Bradley fighting vehicle was a constant.

It was always there for us.

Despite drinking the 130 degree water

with sand blowing in it, we always had our Bradley.

(gun banging)

The Chaffee's 75 millimeter gun had a range

of about 1200 meters.

And although its gun caliber is a third

that of the Chaffee's, the Bradley operates

in a completely different league.

- This vehicle can currently project

and influence power out to the battlefield

to about four kilometers.

But whether it's a Bradley or a Chaffee,

a scouting vehicle is only as good as its crew.

- You can have all the ground sensors in the world

but a soldier looking face to face

to identify what the enemies doing

is the most critical piece for a commander

to paint that picture, in my opinion.

(artillery shouts)

- [Narrator] A flight from Hanoi lands on an airstrip

that years ago the French army used to parachute in

a deadly cargo, the M24 Chaffee tank.

December 1953, the French began an epic process

to break down ten Chaffees and airlift them

into the valley of Dien Bien Phu.

Each weighed nearly 20 tons.

Too big and too heavy to be flown in one go,

each tank was dismantled into 180 pieces

and flown 500 kilometers or 300 miles

in seven separate aircraft.

- This was an extraordinary feat of improvisation

and engineering.

(speaking French)

These men were so efficient and so technically adept

that they were able to build one tank every two days.

This is quite extraordinary by any stretch

of the imagination.

- [Narrator] The French had assembled a huge fighting force

but so did the Vietnamese.

And they dragged heavy artillery guns into the hills

around the French garrison.

But the French had no idea until it was too late.

(speaking French)

(dramatic music)

The Chaffee's engine has stopped.

It is in pieces and this 64-year-old tank

is dead in it's tracks.

Joe's crew has been searching for weeks

to find the right part, but so far they are empty-handed.

- I do know the sources for most of the parts.

If you're talkin about a tank part,

I go to Texas.

If you're talking about another part,

I may go to Wisconsin .

You know they're all, all these collectors

have separate places.

- [Narrator] Still hoping to find the right seal,

Bob Penn has tried another one of his tank contacts.

- Here comes my lady now, come on in Sue.

- [Sue] There you go.

It just came in like 15 minutes ago.

- Alright, just like Christmas.

- [Narrator] But it's going to be a disappointing Christmas.

- But that doesn't even look like that one.

- No the original one, - See like that's the crump

that's rubber and this is leather.

I think we better wait for the next one to come in.

- Well we got one comin in from Sacramento.

- [Ed] Yeah, this number.

- Alright guys, see you later now.

Alright buddy.

Alright.

Yeah, it'll be interesting.

- [Narrator] There's now just over a week left

until the parade.

Coming up, Ed is pushed to the limit

to get the Chaffee moving again.

- See if I was a desk jockey like Gary

then I could just read about it.

(saw buzzing)

- [Narrator] The broken Chaffee has put Joe's tank crew

through hell.

Unable to get a new seal that actually works,

Ed has improvised and reworked an existing seal

which now sits in the Chaffee engine.

- I took a grease seal

and actually made it into an oil seal.

I filled it up with silicon so it's got a stiffer lip on it

and made it a, you know, a seal that worked

from another vehicle.

So, we're hoping it works.

- [Narrator] It's time to put the engine back in

and take the Chaffee for a test drive.

This means reassembling the engine,

a slow tough job.

- Once we get that in, we can drop the radiator in,

we can put the oil cooler in, we can put the fan on,

and then I can dress the top of the motor,

and we'll be ready to start it then.

- [Narrator] The engine has been completely overhauled.

And though Ed is confident, he can't be certain

his seal will work.

- So we're playing with 30 percent could fail

so that's where I'm at.

So when we fire it up it'll be the hold your fingers

and yell at Gary.

But, it'll go good.

(intense orchestral music)

(old news anchor talking)

- [Narrator] When Andre Mengelle parachuted

into Dien Bien Phu, he was dropping into a nightmare.

(speaking French)

(speaking Vietnamese)

March 13th, 1954,

the Viet Minh unleashed its ferocious artillery.

The battle had begun.

(dramatic music)

In the midst of this inferno,

the Chaffee's provided critical firepower for the infantry

and protection for the crews inside.

(speaking French)

The Chaffee's 75 millimeter cannon

and its three Browning machine guns

were used right to their limits.

- The tanks were used so extensively throughout the battle

that their guns were virtually worn out.

The recoil system also failed because they lacked

the specialty oils necessary to keep them going.

In fact, they had to resort to using the oil

out of cans of sardines in order to make the guns

continue to work.

- [Narrator] The Vietnamese gained the upper hand

when they destroyed the only supply route

to the remote French garrison.

- The whole concept of Dien Bien Phu

was for the French forces to be resupplied by air.

Within a few days, the Viet Minh artillery

had destroyed the airstrip.

Accordingly, it was impossible to evacuate the wounded.

The conditions they then suffered for the rest of the battle

were utterly, utterly appalling.

- [Narrator] The tank crews began to run out of batteries,

which operated many of the Chaffee systems.

(speaking French)

(slow guitar music)

over the last three weeks, the Chaffee's engine

has undergone a remarkable transformation.

The engine looks like it did when it rolled

off the assembly line in the 1940s.

With only four days left, the moment of truth

cannot be delayed.

- Just topped off the transmission

so we can see now we're full of oil.

And now it still hasn't leaked yet.

So that's a good, good sign

and once we do that, we'll see if it'll move.

- Of course after we put some heat to it,

get it up to operating temperature.

And then we'll find out if commander

is a real commander or not.

- Now see if I was a desk jockey like Gary,

then I could just read about it.

- [Narrator] Ed's son EJ is in the driver's seat.

(engine starts)

- Fire, fire up the left one.

(engine gurgling)

- Kill the right.

Go left.

(engine revving)

Pump it, go.

(engine whirring)

Fire the right!

64 years and we're backin her out of the shop again.

- [Narrator] Everyone is on the lookout for any sign

of trouble.

Using years of experience and a huge network of contacts,

the team in Marin County have brought the Chaffee

back to life.

Coming up, for the volunteer team,

the 4th of July means loading up hundreds of tons

of military muscle.

- I'm Italian, what's the problem?

It'll skate,

(equipment beeps and engines rev)

- [Narrator] San Rafael, California, July the 4th.

In a few hours, this collection of tanks, trucks, and Jeeps

has to be on parade.

- Which one is your family on?

Oh you guys are working it out.

Over here, Len.

- Well the last two weeks have been the worst weeks

'cause we've been getting here at four o'clock

in the morning.

We've been stayin till ten, 11 o'clock at night,

getting to a place on each tank that we knew

that they were ready.

(engine revving)

- To do it right, do it safely it takes a little while

to make sure that thing doesn't roll off on the freeway

when you're drivin up in your Mustang

and a big 50-ton tank's comin down on ya the other way.

You can't dodge it.

Those tanks are anywhere from 38 tons to 62 tons

and you'll be seein operators and drivers

trying to get those tanks within a half-inch deadcenter line

- [Narrator] The tanks are being loaded

onto Gary's collection of heavy-duty moving equipment.

- This is not gonna fall off.

I've been blessed by the Pope,

I shook hands with Mother Theresa, it ain't goin anywhere.

Piece of cake.

I'm Italian, what's the problem?

It'll skate.

(dramatic music)

(engines revving)

- [Narrator] Despite all the hassles and effort,

Joe never forgets why he's doing this.

- Oh Joe, how are ya?

Good to see you again. - Yeah nice to see you.

- Always good to see you, one of my heroes Joe.

You and all those guys.

- [Narrator] Finally the show is on the road

to the neighboring town of Novato,

just 22 kilometers or about 14 miles away.

But until all 41 vehicles including the tanks

arrive there in one piece,

no one is able to relax.

(dramatic music)

Dien Bien Phu was the last stand

for France's colonial empire in Indochina.

After nearly two months of horrific fighting,

and cut off from their supply lines,

the French garrison was starved of weapons, food,

medicine, and backup.

- Night after night, the Viet Minh trenches got closer

and closer to the French position

until the French realized they were completely surrounded

and they had no chance of evacuation.

(speaking French)

On May 7th, 1954, the garrison surrendered.

After 55 days at war, the French lost 1500 troops.

4000 were wounded.

The Vietnamese had suffered 8000 dead and 15,000 wounded.

French imperial rule in Indochina was finished.

(speaking French)

- After the battle of Dien Bien Phu,

the French were obliged to leave Indochina.

The country was then divided into two parts

with North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

- [Narrator] Appalled by the communist victory,

Washington began supporting South Vietnam

and the nightmare in Indochina began all over.

Having helped to defeat the French,

Vū Xuân Huân would volunteer again

to fight a new imperial power

and his people would once again triumph.

The American war in Vietnam ended in 1975.

(speaking Vietnamese)

In 1993, retired general Henri Préaud

paid a visit to Dien Bien Phu.

The war-torn earth was once again lush farmland.

In a sugarcane field, he came face to face

with his M24 Chaffee.

(speaking French)

Retired general Andre Mangelle

also returned to Dien Bien Phu and found his tanks.

(speaking French)

On the street, Mangelle saw a military patrol

but he still walked toward his beloved Chaffee.

The Vietnamese patrol stopped, but not to arrest him.

(speaking French)

In Vietnam, the Chaffee was the enemy.

But back in the land of its birth,

this superb light tank is once and always a hero.

After an epic struggle, the M24 Chaffee is going to make it

to the parade on time.

(patriotic horn music)

just after ten AM, the magic begins.

The Chaffee was one of the greatest light tanks

ever produced.

Only about 4700 rolled off the assembly line.

But they served for decades all over the world.

From Germany during World War Two,

to the Korean War in Indochina in the 1950s.

From vietname in the 1960s to Pakistan in the 1970s.

They were still being used by the Norwegian

and Uruguayan armies in the 1990s.

And even now, this tank has not stopped rolling into action.

It's a perfect day.

The M24 runs smoothly.

The crew gets to show off their hardware.

American veterans are honored for their sacrifices.

This wonderful celebration could never have happened

without this American patriot and his band of brothers

who refused to leave the Chaffee behind.

- The weather was great, we didn't overheat.

The Chaffee made it through.

We got her (chuckles) we got that upside down oil well

upside down again and right side up.

The seal, she didn't blow today huh?

Okay, great day.

Did you see how many more people we had?

Did you see the flags?

How many veterans did you see, the veterans?

The boys, the boys, the gentleman that were,

you could just see 'em.

- [Joe] That's well worth it.

That's more than well worth it.