Sabine Sally receives a professional make-over

Sabine Sally, the tank that has a permanent home on Norwich's Sabine Field, is being professionally refurbished and will be returning to its long-time location after renovations are completed, according to David Magida, Norwich's chief administrative officer.

The faculty at Norwich "coordinated the whole restoration of Sally with the renovation upgrade of Sabine Field," said Magida. "We felt it was appropriate to have her upgraded and restored, certainly making sure she was properly restored before we opened up the soon-to-be-renovated Sabine Field."

The renovation of Sabine Field includes a new location for three military branch monuments. The new spot makes these monuments more "prominent," Magida said.

Sabine Sally, the Army's monument, will be among these new prominently displayed monuments. However, Sabine Sally was "in need of major work," according to Magida.

"Sabine Sally was in great need of upgrades," he said.

Norwich alumni Larry Costa facilitated these upgrades and sent Sabine Sally to Mil-Spec Vehicle Restorations, in Belvidere, N.J.

Costa is a generous alumni and is "taking care of this for us, he is picking up the bill for the restoration of Sabine Sally" Magida said.

The relation with Mil-Spec is also strictly between the company and Costa.

"My involvement is strictly through Larry," explains Richard Rubino, owner and manager of Mil-spec Vehicle Restorations. "As far as my company is concerned, this is a private venture between me and Larry Costa."

Rubino described the modifications. They include the application of a primer known as epoxy, which creates a superior coating due to its ability to bond to steel on a molecular level. Sabine Sally will also receive a new paint job with a substance made of catalyzed urethane, which is a very durable coating and holds up well to sunlight, according to Rubino.

"The exterior restoration will involve straightening or replacing all brackets that are bent or missing," Rubino said. "We will also install new headlights, tail lights, and bow and co-axial machine gun barrels."

In addition to these exterior restorations, Sabine Sally's hatches will be welded shut for safety reasons. Four steel stands will be placed under the vehicle once she is placed back on Sabine Field, which will help prevent the springs from collapsing over time.

Rubino also offered a wealth of knowledge about Sabine Sally's history as a tank.

"This is a M4A3, this model was made by Ford," Rubino said. "This tank probably never saw service; it's most likely only used for training."

Rubino explains that the lack of modifications on Sabine Sally indicates that the tank was an early model and did not see combat.

This particular model "was so vulnerable during the war," Rubino explains, "right where the star is, was usually the aiming point, if it hit here, it would go right through and hit the ammunition and the whole tank would blow up."

Most of the combat tanks had what was called applicator armor attached to it, which would deter shots fired at the tank from scoring a direct hit. "The fact that this never had any of this done is mostly likely why it never went overseas," Rubino said.

Costa is equally interested in the history of World War II era vehicles He has even offered to give his tank collection to Norwich.

"I discussed early on, a few years back, about the possibility of me donating my collection to Norwich," he said. "Norwich didn't have the facilities or the means to maintain and keep the vehicles, so you know I made the decision not to donate my vehicles to Norwich."

However, Costa received word about the condition of Sabine Sally and provided the funding for her restoration and had his mechanic, Robert Rubino, the owner of Mil-Spec, take a look at the tank.

"I really didn't mind providing the funding to refurbish it, you know, because its history," Rubino said.

Students expressed their thanks.

"It's awesome that we have great supporters like that," said Seth Thomas, a 20-year-old, junior physiology major from Lockport, Ill. "Hopefully we are going to have a lot more in the future," `

 "It's awesome, it's for a good reason, being refurbished you know being out in the elements year after," said Ian Smith, a 25-year-old, junior history major from San Antonio, Texas. "He deserves our thanks."

The plan to have Sabine Sally refurbished was originally brought up by a separate group of alumni. However, it was ultimately taken over by Costa.

The disappearance of Sabine Sally surprised many students.

"(I was) walking down there to go just running at Plumley, and I noticed the tank was gone, just flat out where it use to be," Thomas said.

This sudden disappearance caused a sudden alarm in the Norwich rumor mill.

"It was not advertised that Sabine Sally was just going to be up and gone one day," Thomas said, "That should have been a big thing in the corps and it was not, and it should be when it is brought back."

"There were rumors that ‘Oh Sabine Sally was gone and they're never going to bring it back,'" Thomas said, "but I kind of had a little trust in the university that they wouldn't just take our tank away and not tell anybody."