Description

The 120mm shell is a munition designed for the main gun of the Abrams M1A1 battle tank. The cap is what remains after the shell is fired. This was fired when the 3rd ID, 64th Brigade reached Baghdad at the beginning of the war. It was part of the “Thunder Run”, the initial tank assault on the heart of Baghdad when American troops first reached the capital city in 2003. CNN sent a crew to embed with the 3rd ID, 64th Brigade after it completed that run. The crew remained with the unit for a number of weeks, following them to their duties in Fallujah. Among other stories, CNN profiled SGT Chris Tucker, a member of one of the first tank crews that arrived in the city. CNN continued to follow Tucker for the next couple of years to document his experiences with the war. The shell cap was saved by Chris Tucker and given to CNN as a memento of the conflict.