[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 73 (Thursday, June 6, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S5202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TO COMMEMORATE THE DEDICATION AND UNVEILING OF THE DETROIT ARSENAL TANK 
                        PLANT HISTORICAL MARKER

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I rise today to call my colleagues' 
attention to a significant event taking place in my home state of 
Michigan. On June 6, 2002 in the City of Warren, elected officials, 
business and community leaders, and members and staff of the Tank-
Automotive and Armaments Command, will join with the Warren Historical 
Commission and the Michigan Historical Commission to dedicate and 
unveil a Historical Marker at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant site. Also 
joining them will be veterans and former workers of the Tank Plant who 
well remember the contributions of this facility to the American war 
effort. Together, they will reflect back over 60 years ago, when on 113 
acres of farmland in what was then Warren Township, the Detroit Tank 
Arsenal emerged as the nation's largest defense plant. And they will 
note that the Tank Arsenal marked the beginning of a legacy of how 
government and business can unite for the common purpose of equipping 
our military and advancing our defense capability.
  The Detroit Tank Arsenal success story began in 1940 when the U.S. 
Army contracted with the Chrysler Corporation to create a separate 
armored force of ground vehicles. Albert Kahn was called upon to design 
the mammoth structure needed to mass produce the Army's tanks and when 
it was completed it was the largest building of its type in all the 
world. The first prototype rolled off the assembly line on Good Friday, 
April 11, 1941. By early December 1941, the plant had shipped its 500th 
tank. Production continued to increase to a total of five assembly 
lines, and in December 1942, the plant set an all-time monthly 
production record by delivering 907 Sherman tanks.
  President Roosevelt visited the Detroit Tank Arsenal in 1942 as part 
of his tour of the nation's defense facilities. He made the plant his 
first stop, touring the operations and watching the tanks run along the 
arsenal's test tracks. After returning to Washington, the president 
called the Detroit Tank Arsenal ``an amazing demonstration of what can 
be done by the right organization, spirit and planning.'' FDR further 
proclaimed the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant in Warren ``The Arsenal of 
Democracy.''
  During World War II the Detroit Arsenal lived up to its motto 
``Enough and On Time'' by delivering more than 22,234 tanks such as the 
Sherman. Production continued through the Korean and Vietnam Wars, 
throughout the Cold War, and right into Desert Storm. By 1996, however, 
all tank manufacturing ceased at this facility. But the Tank-Automotive 
Center that was created through the Arsenal in 1942 has evolved into 
the Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command which is housed close to the 
original plant site. I am sure that my Senate colleagues join me in 
paying tribute to the great history of the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant 
and in celebrating the future of progress that it opened to us.

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