By Mike McNorgan, Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Association

In 1940, the General Motors Corporation obtained a contract from the US
government for the construction of tanks. Production began in April 1941.
Further contracts, awarded later that year, led the company to build a new
factory in Grand Blanc, Michigan, located just south of Flint, with building
construction beginning in November 1941. This new factory, run by the
Fisher Division of General Motors, was called the Fisher Tank Arsenal. The
Arsenal’s first M4A2 tank drove off of its assembly line in January 1942,
before construction of the building had even been fully completed.
Toward the end of September 1942, the Fisher Tank Arsenal’s 497th M4A2
tank left the assembly line. (A faint ‘497’ can still be seen on the hull (front
left side) and engine deck door hinge of Holy Roller. This was likely an
inventory control measure used for factory purposes and probably signifies
the vehicle’s place in the assembly line.) Although it was the Fisher
factory’s 497th product, it carried the official serial number 7606, the serial
number being specified by the contract. The company records show that
M4A2 tanks with serial numbers 7491 to 7684 were completed in the month
of September 1942.

M4A2 Serial 7606 had another subtle distinction; it was a command tank as
opposed to an ordinary gun tank. This entailed having space for a second
radio set (19 set) in the right front of the hull to be used for communications
with higher headquarters. In standard gun tanks this space was filled by a
box containing main armament ammunition. The only outward sign of this
status was an antenna base mounted on the glacis plate on the right front of
the tank.

Earmarked for shipment overseas under the Lend-Lease Programme, the
M4A2s were first sent to the Lima Locomotive Works, in Lima Ohio, where
all of the latest modifications were applied.

In 1943 most of the Fisher Tank Arsenal’s M4A2 tanks were shipped to
Britain; this included serial number 7606. Once accepted by the British
Army, a War Department census number was allocated. This was a unique
identification code for each vehicle and consisted of a letter followed by six digits. The letter ‘T’ was used to identify Universal Carriers (better known as Bren Gun carriers) and tanks. The census code would be painted on both sides of the vehicle in white letters 3½ inches tall. With many, but not all, vehicles issued to the Canadians, a ‘C’ for Canada was added to the British census code. M4A2 number 7606 now carried the designation T152655.
Most likely, parked beside it on the day that the census numbers were issued,
was a sister M4A2 from the same factory—serial number 8007.

M4A2 serial number 8007 had been produced at the Fisher Tank Arsenal in
November 1942. (Factory records show that tanks with serial numbers from
7769 to 8200 were produced in November 1942.) It also carried the factory
number ‘898’ likely indicating that it had been the factory’s 898th M4A2.
Once in Britain, it was assigned War Department census number T152656.
Both 7606 and 8007 would be allocated to the 2nd Canadian Armoured
Brigade in early 1944. In April 1944, they were issued from the brigade’s
vehicle pool. T152655 went to the 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment (1st
Hussars), where it received a letter ‘C’ to make it CT152655. Meanwhile,
T152656 was issued to the 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Sherbrooke
Fusilier Regiment). Its War Department census number was not changed.
To the Americans these tanks were M4A2s. The British called them the
Sherman III and this was the designation that they were known by in both
the British and Canadian Armies.

On arrival in its new unit, CT152655 was assigned to regimental
headquarters to be the mount of the regimental second-in-command, Major
Frankie White. Major White’s crew at this time was comprised of himself,
Trooper William Reed (gunner), Corporal Frank ‘Buster’ Fowler (driver),
Trooper Terry Doherty (loader/operator) and Trooper Everett Smith (co-
driver). It was ‘Bus’ Fowler who coined the name ‘Holy Roller.’ The only
stipulation in naming a tank was that the name should start with the same
letter as that of the squadron in which it served. This was an armoured corps
custom originating in the Great War. Although that was and still remains
the custom, over the years there have been many exceptions to the rule.
In a post-war interview with London Free Press War Correspondent Burke
Martin, the now Lieutenant-Colonel White explained how the name had
come about:

“Holy Roller wasn’t my choice of a name” he says. “We got the tank
brand-new just before D-Day, and I wanted to call it Hairless Joe. All
headquarters tanks’ names must begin with “H.” But my corporal,
Buster Fowler, from Timmins, thought ‘Holy Roller’ sounded better.
All the crew voted on it, and I lost.”

During Holy Roller’s restoration, 1st Hussars historians discovered these wartime photos of the tank in the United Kingdom. They are captioned as having been taken in Lee-on-Solent in May 1944. At that time, the 1st Hussars were carrying out training while making preparations for the D-Day landings which included rehearsals of loading vehicles onto landing craft.
The War Department census number is easily seen, however the photo
shows that the name Holy Roller had not yet appeared on the tank’s hull. It
would be added later. What is marked on the left side of the hull, in chalk, is
the designation 1107/ 4. This indicated that the tank was a component of
loading serial 1107. Serial 1107 was a mixed group of personnel, vehicles
and other equipment that was to be loaded onto one particular Landing Craft
Tank (LCT). The numeral 4 likely refers to the 4th Flotilla which was the
parent organization of serial 1107. Among other personnel and vehicles, this
particular craft would be carrying part of ‘C’ Squadron and half of
Regimental Headquarters. The administrative instruction, issued later, stated
that serial 1107 would be loaded onto LCT #522 and that this vessel was to
discharge its cargo onto Beach Mike Red (the present day site of the Juno
Beach Centre) 45 minutes after the initial assault.

The three LCTs that between them carried Regimental Headquarters and ‘C’
Squadron were all Mark IVs; serial 1106 was on #506, serial 1107 was on #522 and serial 1108 was on #517. The eight LCTs that between them carried
the two assault squadrons, with their amphibious Duplex Drive Shermans,
were all the smaller Mark III versions. The Mark III landing craft could
carry 300 tons of cargo while a Mark IV could carry 350 tons.
This fascinating pre-D-Day photograph referred to above also shows the two
tall and wide ‘deep-wading trunks’ (also called ducts or stacks) fastened to
and behind the tank’s rear deck. These were metal extensions placed over
the air intakes (the one in front) and over the engine exhausts (the one in the
rear) that allowed the tank to operate in water that almost reached the top of
the turret. Naturally, the tank also required extensive waterproofing to
prepare it for use in deep waters.

Yet another interesting point about the Lee-on-Solent photograph is what it
does not show. There is no sign of the white five-pointed stars that were the
universally agreed-upon Allied vehicle recognition marker. Many, if not all,
Canadian tanks carried them during the first days of the Normandy
campaign but then started to cover them up as they found that the star
supplied an excellent aiming point for enemy anti-tank gunners. Most likely
the photo had been taken before the white stars were painted on.
Landing on Juno Beach on 6 June 1944, Holy Roller was soon in action
taking out an enemy machine gun post with fire from its coaxial machine
gun. Not the usual work of the tank of a regimental second-in-command.
Well focused photographs of Holy Roller quite clearly show multiple marks
of ‘bullet splash’ on the left front of the hull by the drivers’ compartment. A
comparison of older with newer photos shows that time seems to have
somewhat smoothed out these scars which may well have been D-Day battle
damage.

There is yet another photograph of Holy Roller taken early in its career. This
one is captioned as having been taken in Pierrepont, Normandy on 9 June 1944. Showing the right side of the hull, the tank’s name can be seen painted
underneath the census number. A red diamond also appears on the turret
indicating its status as a headquarters tank.

At some point in June 1944 Major White and his crew lost Holy Roller and
were issued another tank in lieu. Holy Roller would be transferred to ‘B’
Squadron where she would soldier for the remainder of the campaign. We
are able to follow her service in ‘B’ Squadron in some detail thanks to two
military field message pads used in 1944 / 1945 by A430 Sergeant John
Charles Allen. Loaned to the 1st Hussars Museum in 2024 by Sergeant
Allen’s family, the Museum was able to copy the documents. Sergeant Allen
had been in charge of the squadron’s tank maintenance and he kept a record
of which tanks were serviceable on specific dates and which were not and
what their problems were. He even noted which tanks were allocated to
which troop at various times. Number 655, as she was usually referred to in
the message pads, is mentioned frequently. For example, the tank’s arrival to
‘B’ Squadron, referred to above, is dated in Sergeant Allen’s notes.
Unfortunately, this particular note was made in August 1944 and cites the
TOS (Taken on Strength) date as being 31 June, a date which does not
actually exist. Although the stated date is obviously incorrect we can infer
that the actual TOS date was likely in late June 1944.

The Regiment would later calculate that Holy Roller served in 14 separate
actions, surviving three hits by anti-tank guns in Normandy. The first hit, by
an 88 mm anti-tank gun, likely ricocheted off of the front glacis plate
damaging the 75 mm gun which had to be replaced. The tank’s hull had not
been penetrated and the repaired tank was able to soldier on.

In April 1945, at Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, another 88 mm anti-tank gun hit the
tank, completely taking off the track on one side. In the words of Lieutenant-
Colonel White’s post-war interview mentioned above:

“Tanks have been abandoned for less, but Holy Roller was a legend by
now and had to be saved. Six new suspensions, weighing about 1,500
pounds each, were laboriously fitted on and the tank lumbered away
to the last scrap in Germany, 150 miles northeast.”

When the ceasefire was sounded in May 1945, it was widely noted that 655
was the only Sherman left in the Regiment that had made it all the way
through the eleven-month-long campaign, having put on 2128 miles as of
29 May 1945. As well as recording her mileage, Sergeant Allen noted in his
field message pad that 655 had steering issues, a problem that was B.L.R.
(beyond local repair) meaning that the Royal Canadian Electrical and
Mechanical Engineers (RCEME) would have to take her in hand. She was
thus especially cleaned up and fully serviced before being reluctantly turned
in for disposal. The Canadian government had made a gift of all of its
armoured vehicles to the Dutch and Belgian Armies. This would save the
government the expense of shipping them home. The Canadian Army was
promised new vehicles once they had returned from overseas; however,
several years would pass before those new vehicles actually started
appearing.

The Hussars’ commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Frankie White, was
interviewed by the press on 16 May 1945 and was asked why his regiment
was spending time, energy and resources on fixing up this old and battered
tank:

‘Col. White doesn’t think it’s a waste of time. “That tank is going into
the dump in the best shape of any tank in the whole Canadian Army,”
says the colonel.

“She’s our pet, and she’s going to leave our hands in the best shape
we can put her in. We had a turnover of 346 tanks in this regiment
since last June, out of a total strength of 61. Holy Roller is one in a
million as far as we’re concerned, the pride of the whole regiment.
We’ll sure hate to say goodbye to her.”’

By mid-June 1945 most of the armoured regiments had lost most of their
tanks. Turned over to 25th Canadian Armoured Delivery Regiment (The
Elgin Regiment), they were taken away by fleets of tank transporters and
unloaded at 167 Returned Vehicle Park (167 RVP), near Antwerp, Belgium,
to await disposal. The Holy Roller was not one of these. She was taken to
the RCEME facility known as 15 ABP (15 Army Backloading Point), near
the Dutch city of Enschede. A backloading point was a designated area in
the rear of a formation: that is a brigade, division, corps or army, where
vehicles—from motorcycles to main battle tanks—that could not be dealt
with by the forward RCEME units were pooled. Here they could either
undergo extensive repair or be utilized for spare parts. Based on Lieutenant-
Colonel White’s comment about “going into the dump” and Sergeant
Allen’s note about “beyond local repair”, the latter was likely the plan for
Holy Roller.

The history of 4th Canadian Armoured Troops Workshop (RCEME) notes
that it was stationed in Enschede at the war’s end.

“Work was plentiful, as No. 15 ABP had been previously set up in our area, with thousands of
vehicles awaiting repairs.”

No reference to it has yet been located, but it is entirely possible that once
655 was identified as a ‘war trophy’ in mid-September 1945, it was worked
on to return it to running condition. We do know that it was ‘a runner’ once
it arrived in Canada. If this work did take place in Europe then 4th Canadian
Armoured Troops Workshop (RCEME) was the likely site for the repairs.
In the summer of 1945, some regiments had approached their higher
headquarters asking permission to return certain vehicles to Canada to
become regimental monuments. In July, the 22nd Canadian Armoured
Regiment (Canadian Grenadier Guards) asked to have two Shermans
returned to them, one a 17-Pounder Firefly and the other a 75 mm Sherman
III gun tank that had survived the regiment’s entire campaign from July
1944 to May 1945. Their higher headquarters, Canadian Forces Netherlands,
supported the idea but needed approval from Canadian Military Headquarters in London and ultimately from National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa.

Headquarters in London said the Grenadiers could take home one tank, but
not two, and this became the policy. There would be many items of
equipment, including a variety of tanks and armoured personnel carriers,
involved in this preservation of equipment programme, but ultimately, out of
the hundreds of Sherman main battle tanks, only four were selected. One of
these four was T152656, mentioned above. Issued to the Sherbrooke Fusilier
Regiment, it had been assigned to that unit’s ‘B’ Squadron and had been
named ‘Bomb’ after the Sherbrookes’ grenade cap badge. At the end of
hostilities, the Sherbrookes had found that Bomb, a D-Day veteran, was their
only tank to have survived the entire campaign. They were determined to
have Bomb preserved and sent to Canada. By mid-September 1945 the four Sherman tanks that would eventually be sent to Canada had all been located—three of these, including Bomb, being at 167 RVP, the fourth one, Holy Roller, being at 15 ABP.

In early November 1945, the Canadian Army Film Unit decided to make a
motion picture about Canadian armour. Thus it was that T152656 Bomb was
re-issued to the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment from 167 Returned Vehicle
Park, and reunited with its original crew. The film titled ‘Green Fields
Beyond’ was shot and then Bomb was returned to the vehicle park. In
January 1946, the three selected Shermans were transported from 167 RVP
to the docks in Antwerp and loaded onboard the Canadian Merchant Navy
ship SS Riverview Park for shipment to Saint John, New Brunswick. The
ship sailed on 16 January, arriving in Saint John on 20 January 1946.
Meanwhile, the Holy Roller remained in the Netherlands.

On 6 January 1946, the move of Holy Roller to Canada was approved. On 9
January 1946, CT152655 was moved from 15 ABP in Holland to 167
Returned Vehicle Park in Belgium in preparation for transport to Canada.
She would later be loaded onboard the Canadian Merchant Navy ship SS
Hampstead Park in Antwerp; with the ship departing for Saint John, New
Brunswick on 17 March 1946.

Soon after arrival in the port of Saint John, New Brunswick on 22 March
1946, Holy Roller was loaded onto a Canadian Pacific Railway flatcar and dispatched to London, Ontario addressed to the Commanding Officer 6th
Canadian Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars).

The story is picked up here by a clipping from The London Free Press
(undated but from internal evidence clearly 20 April 1946). After arriving at
London’s Central Mechanization Depot (soon to be renamed 27 Central
Ordnance Depot), she was almost immediately turned around and sent on to
Camp Borden. The primary reason for this move was to replace the tank’s
steel track pads with rubber ones more suitable for driving through the
streets its new hometown. (In Sergeant John Allen’s field message pad,
referenced above, under the date 22 December 1944, he inventoried the track
types used by all of ‘B’ Squadron’s tanks. There were three types in use:
rubber chevron, steel chevron and steel bar. At that time tank 655 was
equipped with steel chevron track.)

During its stay in Borden, in April 1946, Holy Roller was also checked over
and tuned up by the RCEME Craftsmen at the Royal Canadian Armoured
Corps School. Although not mentioned in the news story, the check-up may
have also looked into the state of the repairs carried out in Europe.
While the tank was in Borden, the School Commandant suggested that it
stay there to become an Armoured Corps memorial. The Hussars did not
agree and the Holy Roller was returned to London, Ontario.

Photographs taken in London on 14 June 1946 show two interesting
markings on the turret. At the back, the ‘B’ Squadron square appears
(painted in red as red coloured markings showed that the vehicle belonged to
the senior regiment in its brigade, in this case, the 1st Hussars). However, in
the centre of the red square is a numeral 3 which would indicate the tactical
marking ‘B3’ of ‘B’ Squadron’s Rear Link Officer; the Battle Captain in
modern terminology. However, we know that by the war’s end Holy Roller
was definitely being used as the mount for the squadron commander, whose
tactical marking was ‘B1’ at that time. Was this simply an indication of an
earlier role that had not been removed? The suggestion has been made that
this insignia could indicate the tank of the troop leader of 3rd Troop ‘B’
Squadron; however, his tactical marking at that time would have been ‘B31’.
The other point of interest was to be found on the left side of the turret.
Instead of a single large red square to indicate ‘B’ Squadron, there are two
small red squares side by side. The meaning of this remains a mystery.

Today, there are four ‘combat veteran’ Sherman tanks in Canada: Holy
Roller, Bomb (on display in Sherbrooke), Cathy (on display in Trois-
Rivières) and Forceful (on display in the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa).
Although all saw much honourable service, indeed that was why they were
selected, only two could claim the status of D-Day veteran—Bomb and the
Holy Roller. There are other combat veteran Canadian Shermans located
outside of Canada, including one other Canadian D-Day veteran.
After the Holy Roller was filmed driving through London on 14 June 1946
(crew commanded on that occasion by Captain Norman Mann, MC and
driven by Warrant Officer Class II B.E. ‘Smokey’ Shaw, MM) it became a
static display, sitting outside of downtown London’s Dundas Street
Armoury.

Holy Roller was gifted to the City of London on 30 June 1949. At that
time the vehicle was not sealed and children were able to play in it as well as
on it. A barbed wire fence was placed around the vehicle to keep out the
children, but the city objected to the fence, on the grounds that no one was
allowed to fence off city property! The fence was removed.

In donating Holy Roller to the City, the Regiment’s expectation was that it
would be displayed downtown, in Victoria Park. However, the regiment was
told by the city’s Public Utilities Commission that the park was just too
crowded to handle another monument. As a result, on 4 June 1950, the tank
became a monument at the main gate to the Western Fair Grounds in the
city’s east end. At this point the major hatches were sealed shut—but not all
of the vents, such as those for the episcopes, which allowed garbage to be
pushed inside.

This June 1950 ceremony coincided with a veterans’ reunion. The London
Free Press noted that there were nine former Holy Roller crew members
present. Corporal Fowler (mentioned above as part of the original crew
along with White, Reed, Doherty and Smith) as well as Troopers, Bury,
Benoit, Cook, Deller and Moore plus Sergeant McIntosh and Major Nolan.
At least five other soldiers are also known to have served on the tank. A
photograph of the crew, likely taken in early 1945, lists its then crew; Major
Mills, Sergeant Dodds, Sergeant Green, Troopers Appleby and Last. That
makes a total of 17 Hussars who are known to have served on the tank.
There were most likely others.

Finally, in May 1956, Holy Roller was moved from the Western Fair
Grounds to the north end of London’s Victoria Park where the regiment had
wanted her located all along. This new location was a centennial birthday
gift from the City of London to the regiment. Holy Roller took up her new
position just in time to play a key role in the Hussars’ centennial
celebrations, held on 26 May 1956.

In 2021, Holy Roller was removed from Victoria Park and taken to London’s
Fanshawe College to undergo a complete rebuild and preservation process.
New track was brought in from France and new road wheels from Belgium.
The restorers found traces of the weld marks where track pads had once been
attached to the glacis plate. This confirmed references to the tank having
been saved in action when enemy shot had been deflected by the add-on
armour. A 1945 newspaper story stated:

“Her first direct hit proved to be an indication of the kind of damage
Holy Roller was to get in the next 11 months. A Jerry 88 caught her
flush on the front. Most of the impact was diverted by a section of
track welded to the hull – a wrinkle that has saved a lot of tanks and
tankmen in this war. But shrapnel damaged the Sherman’s 75 and it
was replaced by a gun from another tank.”

On 31 May 2022, the tank was returned to Victoria Park in time for the
annual D-Day commemoration. Restored to its 1945 ‘B’ Squadron markings,
Holy Roller was now set to continue its career as the 1st Hussars’ most
precious artifact.