14 DAY TRIAL // Towards the end of last year, the US Marine Corps granted a dying man's wish to hug a tank before finally succumbing to the health trouble plaguing him for years.
Thus, it was on December 22 that Kenneth R. White got to visit the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, a US Marine Corps base in California.
While visiting this base, Kenneth R. White, who is now nearly 80 years old, came face to face with both old-school and modern tanks, and even went on a tour of battle simulators.
Besides, the man got to hug an M1 Abrams, which the US Marine Corps describes as a modern battle tank, and a Sherman tank, a somewhat older such military vehicle.
Why want to hug a tank before dying?
As detailed by Military Times, Kenneth R. White is no ordinary elderly man. On the contrary, he is a US Marine Corps veteran who, when younger, got to work with Sherman, Pershing and M48 Patton tanks.
The nearly 80-year-old veteran has been battling stage-five kidney disease for quite a while now and is suffering from plenty of other health trouble as well. Simply put, he does not have all that much left to live.
Apparently, the man loved his days as a tanker so much that, when diagnosed with stage-five kidney disease, he decided that his final wish would be to hug one of the machines he worked with for years while a member of the US Marine Corps.
The man could not be happier that his wish came true
Kenneth R. White, who was born in San Diego but who now lives in Las Vegas, says that the day the US Marine Corps took him to the California base and gave him permission to hug both an M1 Abrams and a Sherman was one of the best of his life.
“All my life, when I was a little boy growing up, I wanted to be a tank. I can't believe they did all this for me. I can die in peace now, because I got to hug a tank,” the veteran told the press in an interview.
In case anyone was wondering, Kenneth R. White served 17 years as a tanker for the 4th Tank battalion. His days with the US Marine Corps might be over, but at least he can now take comfort in the thought that his final wish came true.