What would I do?
I was born and raised in the United States of America.
I served in uniform, but I never had to really lay it on the line for my freedom.
Chinese tanks and armored fighting vehicles in formation at Shenyang training base in China. Image: Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen/USAF
In my case, that was a gift bestowed upon me by countless selfless patriots who came before.
But what if I really had to stand up?
What would I do then?
The Tank Museum holds this Type 59 tank in its collection. While the tanks have been used by a number of militaries, it is closely associated with the People’s Liberation Army of communist China.
Tank Man likely did not get up on June 5, 1989, intending to change the world.
He got up intending to go buy groceries.
Nobody knows how much that decision ultimately cost him.
Type 59 tanks on display during the 1959 National Day military parade of the People’s Republic of China. This was the first public appearance of the Type 59 tank. Image: Chinese government/Public Domain
Statistics
According to Freedom House, only one in five humans today lives in a free country.
1.4 billion people currently reside in communist China.
The government there is inviolate.
Two U.S. Marines examine a Type 59 tank that was captured from the Iraqi Army in Kuwait. Image: NARA
It perfuses everything about daily life.
As a free American, I have a difficult time even visualizing that.
However, I do know some people.
Shown here is an Egyptian T-54 tank rolling off of a U.S. landing craft during a joint training exercise in 1985. The Chinese Type 59 was based on this design. Image: NARA
A friend spent six months over there as a student.
She told me that it was kind of novel at first.
We free Americans really have no idea.
The Chinese Army began to equip the “1959 Type Medium Tank”, or Type 59, as its main tank in 1959. The Type 54 machine gun is prominent on the turret. Image: Chinese government/Public Domain
Background
The 1980s saw seismic changes in Chinese culture.
Richard Nixons visit to China in 1972 ended a quarter century of isolation following WWII.
A decade later, the inimitable engine of capitalism was transforming life in Red China.
A Marine inspects an Iraqi Type 59 main battle tank that was captured during Operation Desert Storm. Image: NARA
You know that cheesy Happy Meal toy that your kid got at McDonalds last week?
Heres where it all started.
Freedom is like some addictive contagion.
A Pakistan Army Armoured Corps tank column comprised of Type 59 tanks advances in West Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Image: Pakistan Army
Once a starving man gets a taste, all he wants is more.
He is also driven to share that with others.
Part of that protest involved the occupation of Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
This Type 59 is held by The Tank Museum in England. On the wall behind it is a photo of a single Chinese man stopping a column of PLA Type 59 tanks.
After weeks of failed negotiations, the Chinese government declared martial law and moved in with troops and tanks.
For its era, the throw in 59 was a solid design.
It featured a compact cast steel turret and welded steel hull.
Armor ranged from 20mm on the floor of the hull to 100mm on the frontal aspect of the turret.
Primary armament was the 100mm jot down 59 rifled cannon.
Standard stowage was 34 rounds of main gun ammunition.
This was the product of the thawing of relationships between China and the West in the early 1980s.
However, arms embargoes that arose after the Tiananmen massacre put a stop to such exchanges of military technology.
The jot down 54 was a Chinese copy of the Russian M1938/46 DShKM heavy machinegun.
The turret had a mechanical traverse that would spin the gun through 360 degrees in 21 seconds.
The throw in 59 was powered by a Model 12150L V-12 liquid-cooled engine that produced 520 hp.
The torsion bar suspension offered a fairly smooth ride.
Combat Use
The total production run for the bang out 59 was 9,500 vehicles.
Roughly 5,500 of these remained in PLA service, while the rest were exported.
Pakistani throw in 59 MBTs faced Soviet-made Indian T-54 and T-55 tanks throughout their sundry conflicts during the 1970s.
bang out 59s saw action during the Iran-Iraq War that spanned the 1980s.
They were also encountered in Iraq by coalition forces during the first Gulf War.
Confrontation
On June 4, 1989, PLA forces opened fire on the protestors.
The absolute numbers will never be known.
The Chinese government has always been tight-lipped, and they ruthlessly suppressed details of the exchange.
They did, however, successfully clear Tiananmen Square.
Thats when Tank Man chose to intervene.
Imagery of the exchange almost never made it to the outside world.
The five best examples were confiscated by the PSB, the Chinese Security Police.
The best surviving images of the event were shot by a British photographer named Stuart Franklin.
His images ended up in bothTIMEandLIFEmagazines.
The video is particularly poignant.
CNN videographers captured the scene.
Then a single man ran out and posted himself in front of the lead vehicle.
For a moment nothing happened.
He then climbed on top of the tank, exchanged words with the crew, and leaped back down.
The Rest of the Story
Nobody knows for sure who the Tank Man actually was.
A couple of names have been proffered, but Chinese government censorship has successfully obfuscated the details.
One story claims he was executed 14 days later in anonymity.
Others assert he was never successfully identified.
Nobody will ever know.
So, what would you do?
However, Ill never know.
Regardless, cherish your freedom, my friends.
Absolutely nothing about it was free.
