Comment by ChuckMcM
13 days ago
When I toured Jacques Littlefield's Tank Ranch they had, what I believe to be, this exact tank. They told the story of how it had been lost in the river and sat there and they went to see if it was still there and arranged to get it removed and returned to California where they restored it.
If someone was so motivated, they could probably go back to the internet archives of the auction that happened after Jacques died to find a picture of both the restored tank and its providence.
The stack exchange link and the article about the search say it was recovered in 1941
I toured that farm as well and took some pictures of that tank, unfortunately not from the same angle as the meme:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/n5sSHPBWHT5YMdrc8
I remember the story being it came from a river in Belgium, but the dates don’t match the claim of it being recovered in 1941.