Back in 1949, the Tacoma VFW petitioned the U.S Army to gift or loan them a  cannon   for the yard ornament in downtown Tacoma. In 2012 parlance, this is called bric-a-brac or yard furniture.  The Army obliged with a Model of 1931, 1o5MM mobile Howitzer. A veteran of the Big One, it stood guard with pride until the VFW ran into some tax problems early in the 90’s. They gave up the property to pay taxes and a new owner took over the premises (and the gun) in 1998. The VFW came  and said they’d like their gun back, pretty please. The new outfit said no dice. We bought it with the property. The VFW was polite to a fault and finally, after a score of years,  showed up one Saturday morning late in February, appropriated the gun and moved it down to Parkland, Washington on the side of their building there. The owners of the Tacoma property promptly filed theft charges and pointed to the culprits who weren’t making any attempt at hiding it.

A judge has now interjected herself into the fray and ordered the VFW to produce ownership, stewardship or trusteeship to said Howitzer and paperwork stipulating as much in 10 days or less. In the event of failure to produce this, the gun will be returned to the Tacoma owners who live in California and enjoy all the press they’re receiving over this. The VFW has intimated that the gun will not be heading north-ever. It will be interesting to see if they can get ammo for it. I’ll keep you posted.