Tribute tank to local war hero to be repainted camouflage green
A tank which has been parked at an industrial estate for decades as a memorial to a local war hero is to get a new paint job.
The Chieftain tank, which was used in the Gulf War, was first brought to Delph Industrial Estate, in Brierley Hill, in 1994 by Tony Whittaker.
The 76-year-old, who runs the industrial estate, originally purchased the tank in memory of Stanley Longmore, with whom he worked as an apprentice.
Mr Longmore served in the Second World War as part of the Desert Rats in North Africa. He was in the Staffordshire Regiment and rose to the rank of Sergeant Major. Mr Longmore went on to receive the Distinguished Service medal.
Mr Whittaker wants to change the custom paint job he gave the 65-tonne machine, which is in working order, to a traditional army colour of green and black.
Despite being parked at the industrial estate for decades, the tank only became well known this month after a photograph of it went viral on Facebook.
The tank was shown decorated with poppies and adorned with a Union Jack ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
Mr Whittaker's son Steve, 45, has offered to paint the tank – but members of the public have also been in contact saying they would do it for free.
Mr Whittaker said: "The one thing that has popped its head up is one or two have said 'the tank is lovely but it shouldn't be that colour'.
Appreciation
"Going back some time ago, I was trying to get the estate with the green touch, so the tank was painted green.
"But the main complaint from folk seems to be 'this is a wonderful gesture but the tank shouldn't be painted green, it should have the camouflage colours on'.
"We are going to paint it back to the original camouflage colours."
Upon Mr Longmore's death in the early 1990s, he left Mr Whittaker with his war medals.
This was a show of appreciation for Mr Whittaker who, as a 17-year-old, saved the former sergeant major's life.
The pair, who worked at a brickyard together in Dudley, went on a fishing trip to the River Lugg, at Moreton on Lugg, in Hereford.
There, Mr Longmore ended up falling in the water from a 10ft bank, while almost knocking himself out, but Mr Whittaker pulled him to safety.
Fast forward 30 years, Mr Whittaker said: "I hadn't heard from him for donkey's years.
"Thirty-odd years later, I got a phone call from his wife to say Stanley had passed and because I saved his life at the River Lugg, he left me all of his war medals.
Decorated
"I knew he had been through the war but I didn't know he was given the Distinguished Service medal, given to him by the King at Buckingham Palace.
"I also didn't know he had other medals as well for bravery. He had been through the main campaigns in the desert, El Alamein, he was decorated there.
"He had also been on the D-Day landings. On the D-Day landings, his brother was in one of the big bombers, and as it went over, two or three were shot down, and his brother was killed there.
"That was flight sergeant William Longmore.
"We wanted to put a memorial for Stanley Longmore and we brought the Chieftain tank in.
"It came from an army surplus truck, I had managed to get it from one of them, and we bought it in 1994 which was the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings, of which Stanley took part.
"And it has been there ever since. Every year we have put a Union Jack on with poppies and a poppy wreath, not only to Stanley, but to the many thousands of others that lost their lives.
"In the meantime, nobody has noticed what I have been doing. This time it went out on Facebook and I have been bombarded with calls."
