atomic cannon

Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, recalled being sent to Germany in 1958 as a young platoon leader, where his primary responsibility was tending to what he described in his memoir as “a 280-millimeter atomic cannon carried on twin truck-tractors, looking like a World War I Big Bertha.”

The center has among other things a rare 1950s-era atomic cannon.

“We are not moving the atomic cannon,” Rohal said.

His parents discussed the possibility that Santa Claus would bring “another means of destruction” — a toy atomic cannon.

“But there was the Bulldog Tank! As the story was later told to me, on Christmas Eve my parents — never long-range planners in these matters — had gone out to buy the atomic cannon and, lo and behold, the major Atlanta department store, Rich’s, had just gotten in a shipment of Bulldog Tanks. They were stacked on the shelves for late shoppers like my parents. Procrastination had paid off!”