Ever since Rodger Sample was a kid, he’s been enthralled with the instruments of war — the guns and Jeeps, the cannons and tanks.

“I’ve always been interested in military equipment,” he said. “I was 10 when World War II started.”

He lied about his age to join the National Guard at 16. When he was 17, he joined the Army. It was 1949, the year before the start of the Korean conflict.

“When MacArthur said we were going to invade Korea, he looked for anyone with amphibious training,” said Sample. His unit was called to action.

He vividly recalls his 18th birthday, on Sept. 16, 1950. “I was in Korea in the harbor the morning of the invasion. I was standing on this ship, getting strafed. And I thought, ‘Here I am in the middle of the world. It’s a great place to be.’ I loved it. It was like the greatest party I was ever at.”

Sample went on, “Four months later, I was in the same harbor...The Chinese pushed us out.”

His military duty was “extended” to three-and-a-half years when the war started.

His last few months in Korea, he said, “My nerves started going.” When Sample was told his unit was going home, he recalled, “I went in the corner and cried.”

After he returned to the States, he joined the National Guard.

Sample never lost his love of military equipment.

Last week, he saw the letter in The Enterprise asking about the old Army tank that once stood next to Route 157 just before the entrance to Thacher Park.

Sample knew the tank well. Despite a hurt leg that wouldn’t let him climb the stairs to the news office, he showed up at The Enterprise, wearing a cap that announced his Purple Heart status — “combat wounded” — and bringing slides he had taken years ago of the 1940 tank.

“It was one of the earliest light tanks or scout cars with a 37-millimeter cannon on the front,” Sample said. “It ran on an aircraft engine. The National Guard in Albany had them. It’s the type of stuff they gave to England before we got in the war. They used them in Africa.

“The trouble is, if you hit them with anything, they fell apart.”

This particular tank marked the entrance to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post on Route 157, he said. In the 1960s, he said, “When the post broke up, they sold the building and the tank went for seven- or eight-hundred dollars.”

It was purchased by Albie Loden, a veteran himself. Loden had fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. He took the tank up to his Schoharie farm, which is where Sample photographed it a half-century ago.

“Loden used to drive his grandkids around in it years ago,” said Sample. “Somebody bought it 20 years ago,” he said. One friend told him it went to a New Jersey buyer; another said it was in California. “They got 25 or 30 grand for it,” said Sample.

“You’d be surprised,” he concluded, “how much World War II equipment is lying around here — not that I’m going to tattle on anyone.”