This was the first Russian tank to enter Berlin.
My Father was with the first American troops sent into Berlin shortly after the Russians captured it. It was blown up at night a couple of days after this picture was taken, also only a few days after the monument was completed. That is him sitting on the monument.
My dad was in Korea, late 1952-53. When he rotated out, the war ended while he was at sea, steaming back to Seattle. Dad was artillery, 105's, spent most of the war in the Cho Wan [sic] valley. Ive seen some of the pics he sent my mom (then his fiance`) of the "living conditions" and of the piles and piles of munitions the fired on a daily basis. I would listen to him tell of the gun barrels glowing cherry red from firing at night. In the year he was in Korea, he almost made second lieutenant, got busted back to private (for busting a first lieutenant), and made sergent and section chief before leaving. (Dad tolerated fools poorly, probably where I get it from....)
Dad passed away on 29 Jan 1997....today I remember him and miss him....