Good morning. It’s Monday. We’ll get an early start on Veterans Day with a look at a tank transporter from World War II.
David Levy scoffed when I asked if he had parallel-parked his very large, very old truck. “Even as a civilian who drives an S.U.V.,” he said, “getting in a vehicle like this was something. It required a different skill to drive it.” And the turning diameter is more than twice that of a New York City bus. “You’d need a street 80 feet wide just to make a U-turn,” he said. His truck, a model called the M25A1, was manufactured for the Army to haul tanks in World War II. M25A1s became known as Dragon Wagons because, when their 38½ -foot-long trailers are attached, they dwarf almost anything else on the road. Dragon Wagons are rare and always were: Fewer than 700 vehicles like Levy’s were made, and he knows of only one other that still runs. He said that his is:
Still, he said, it has “a story of its own, being part of World War II, part of winning the war.” And restoring the truck, as Levy has done over the last 11 years — scrouging for parts in junkyards in France, among other places, and sometimes simply fabricating his own — is “a mission to do right by history.” It is a mission that comes to mind as the Museum of American Armor, in Old Bethpage, N.Y., prepares for Veterans Day tomorrow. The museum, where Levy has parked the Dragon Wagon for years, has tanks and reconnaissance vehicles that still work, and volunteers like Levy who love to tinker with them. Veterans Day began as Armistice Day in 1918, at the end of World War I, but was renamed in 1954 to honor the American dead from all wars. The Veterans Day Parade in Manhattan will begin at 12:30 p.m. and will move up Fifth Avenue from East 25th Street to East 48th Street, led by three grand marshals: Stephen Peck, a former Marine Corps officer who was the president and chief executive of the nonprofit U.S.VETS (and is the son of the actor Gregory Peck and father of the actor Ethan Peck); Sunita Williams, a Navy captain and astronaut who was stuck at the International Space Station for nine months after technical problems delayed her return home; and Clinton Romesha, a former Army staff sergeant who received the Medal of Honor. For Levy, 57, the Dragon Wagon had an emotional pull: His father was in the Army’s 29th Infantry Division in World War II, and he cemented Levy’s love of military vehicles when they restored a Jeep together when Levy was in ninth grade. Since then, he has mastered not only the mechanics of old vehicles but the driving. He went to tractor-trailer driving school “to have the skill set” to handle the Dragon Wagon. He also applied for — and got — a commercial driver’s license, which involved a two-and-a-half-hour road test in a borrowed truck. “That included parallel parking an 18-wheeler,” he said. “I can do that in a regular 18-wheeler. I can’t do that in the Dragon Wagon.” It doesn’t help that the rear view mirrors are tiny. “It’s like looking in a postage stamp,” he said. “It’s so big and the mirror’s so small that you can’t get a full perspective on what’s going on behind you,” he said. “You need a ground crew to help with navigating and turning radiuses.” But the 240-horsepower engine is loud. “Communication is very difficult to hear,” he said. “It’s really more hand signals.” He flinched at the idea of installing video cameras to improve situational awareness behind the wheel. “That would alter the historical authenticity,” he said. At least the Dragon Wagon came with power steering. He rebuilt the pump and the other parts himself. “When I first got it, the power steering was completely rusted and the pump had seized up” and fluid leaked out, Levy said. “You had to have two hands and had to pull hard.” Now, even with the power steering, “it gives you a workout, but you can’t live without it,” he added. When it arrived at the museum from Wisconsin — where it had ended up after years of hauling heavy construction equipment in Europe — “I figured I’d take it around the parking lot,” Levy said. He poured in five gallons of gas and started the engine. There was a hill in the parking lot, and the trailer was headed down. “With so little gas in the tanks, the engine stalled,” he said, explaining how the museum’s tow truck had to be called out. He worried that it would have rolled down the hill when he took his foot off the brake and pushed in the clutch pedal to restart it. These days Levy’s Dragon Wagon spends most of its time inside the museum, although he has listed it for sale. “A piece of equipment like this, you definitely want to keep it indoors and protect it,” he said. “Otherwise, the history just rusts away.” WEATHER Rain is likely in the morning, followed by sunshine, with a high of 56. Wind is expected with gusts of up to 29 miles per hour. Tonight, temperatures will be in the low 30s. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING In effect until Tuesday (Veterans Day). The latest New York news
The Mayor-Elect
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Every morning for two years I walked the same route to work: west from my apartment across 76th Street, south on Park Avenue to 51st and then west to Broadway. Some days I listened to a book; other days I listened to podcasts. Some days I walked in silence. Every day, no matter what, as I crossed 63rd Street, I could count on passing a man who worked at a co-op building on the corner as he sprayed down the sidewalk. “Good morning, hon!” he would say. “Have a wonderful day.” Some days, we exchanged pleasantries about the weather. Other days, we wished each other a good weekend. He didn’t know my name, and I didn’t know his. Then one day on my walk, someone else was spraying down the sidewalk. “Vacation,” I thought, until I didn’t see him the next week or the week after that. My routine changed, too. I left my job and no longer walked the same route every morning. I felt sad not to have seen my sidewalk friend one last time to wish him well. A few months later, I was on my way home and decided to get off the bus at 52nd Street and walk the rest of the way. It was about 5 p.m., and the streets were full of commuters. I walked up Park Avenue with my head down. I was crossing 58th Street, beginning to regret my decision to walk, when I heard a familiar voice: “Hey, hon! Have a good afternoon.” I looked up and there he was, smiling. We both kept walking in the crowd. Then I turned around. “Thank you,” I said. “You too!” — Stephanie Michas Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Lauren Hard and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
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