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Korean War M41 Walker Bulldog Tank Painted Lime-Yellow by Mistake

If it were still being used in action, this M41 Walker Bulldog tank would totally stand out, and for all the wrong reasons: it’s lime-yellow instead of olive-drab, as one would expect military equipment to be.
Tank ends up bright yellow after painting mishap 9 photos
Photo: Eric DiNovo / bdtonline.com/
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The tank, a Korean War historic piece displayed near Bowen Field and being maintained by a science-fiction club from the Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West Virginia, turned this strange shade a few days ago. City and military officials would not comment on the change, since they had no idea of it being authorized, but they also stopped short of describing it vandalism.

One thing was certain, though: the tank was the wrong color, but no one seemed to know how it happened. The other day, the mystery was solved when the sponsor of the aforementioned club came clean about the mishap in a letter to local publication The Bluefield Daily Telegraph.

Indeed, the tank should have been olive-green. They took samples of the shade they needed to a local paint shop and ordered 2 gallons of fresh paint, but they were delivered the wrong color.

“We took a sample of the color to a Bluefield merchant and purchased two gallons which was supposed to match our sample,” Jerry Conner explains. “We were worried when we opened the containers and found something nowhere near our sample. ‘Surely it will dry the right color,’ we thought, and proceeded with the prep and painting. Imagine our chagrin when it dried, not green-brown olive, but instead, bright mustard yellow!”

“At least the yellow of the tank is a nice match for the red of our faces,” Conner continues, adding that they have spoken with the vendor and will be delivered the right color free of charge. On the receipt, the yellow shade is called “tank green,” so that’s what led to this colorful mistake.

The tank is property of the National Guard, and City Manager Dane Rideout, a retired Army colonel, says they’re working with them to bring the tank to its original color, so as to be as “historically-accurate as possible.”
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About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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