“Meet me at the big gun.”
Plenty of Haywood County residents have uttered these words, referring to a large anti-aircraft weapon featured prominently in downtown Clyde that serves as a memorial to those from the town who gave their lives in service of this country. Over time, it’s become a rendezvous point for any number of occasions, a location for ceremonies honoring veterans and those fell in combat and a prop for folks wanting a quirky photo opportunity.
The monument is even the subject of a song by Buddy Melton, Milan Miller and Mark W. Winchester called The Big Gun at the Center of Clyde from the album Songs from Haywood County.
The big gun is a 50 caliber anti-aircraft weapon that fired 3-inch shells up to a rate of 40 rounds per minute. It was brought onto Naval ships during World War II as a replacement for 40 mm anti-aircraft guns due to its ability to fire proximity shells, which proved effective against enemy planes, especially Japanese kamikazes. Some of the guns remained in service into the 60s. There are others like it in the area, including one painted with a camouflage pattern at the old National Guard armory near Franklin now owned by Southwestern Community College. Just last month, former Franklin Mayor Bob Scott posted on Facebook inquiring whether that rusting gun could be moved somewhere it could be taken better care of.
Old Grouch’s owner, Tim Glance, crouches beside a couple of dummy rounds that are exact replicas, down to the weight, of what was fired by the big gun. Kyle Perrotti photo
Such an eye-catching monument that draws attention from residents and tourists alike requires occasional maintenance to keep it worthy of the sense of pride residents place in the big gun. Tim Glance has been happy to take on that responsibility, which basically entails giving it a fresh paint job every few years. With a small team of volunteers and a few gallons of paint, Glance, who owns the nearby military surplus store Old Grouch’s, tackled the project last weekend.
Among the volunteers was a pair of plucky yet humble thirteen-year-olds, Adam Boyd, of Haywood County, and his friend, Dyche Young, who was visiting from Kentucky. The boys made headlines a few years ago when they traveled to Normandy as part of the pilot program Bridge to History, which brought students to Europe for 10 days to study Operation Overload, the daring beach landing that turned the tide in World War II.
So it was on June 6, the 82-year anniversary of Operation Overlord, that Young and Boyd found themselves carefully laying down a new coat of paint on the gun, ensuring they covered even hard to reach areas amid the mess of gears, sprockets and cogs. As he continued to paint, rarely breaking focus to even look away, Boyd spoke to The Smoky Mountain News. His great grandfather had served during World War II, he said, and fought in Okinawa and the Philippines. That stoked a fire in Boyd that has yet to die down to learn as much as he can about history he doesn’t want to see forgotten. He even hopes to collect artifacts from wars dating back to the early 20th century and open a museum akin to Brevard’s Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas. He considers that the big gun is just such an item.
Adam Boyd applies paint to the big gun. Kyle Perrotti photo
“I’ve done restorations of uniforms and stuff like this,” Boyd said. “I enjoy doing these kinds of things.”
“I’d like to get more people into this,” he added. “It’s for the veterans who served in Clyde, and not only Clyde, but in the Haywood area and all around North Carolina.”
Leading the way June 6 was Glance, who came armed with three gallons of haze gray paint for the gun and a gallon of deck gray for its base. Glance’s father owned Old Grouch’s until his death 15 years ago. During the 90s, Glance’s father and a Navy veteran friend lamented the state of the big gun and decided to bring it close to its original glory, beginning the ongoing effort to keep it in good shape over the last three decades. Tim Glance retired from the military in 2017 as a warrant officer equipment repair technician and had previously deployed to Afghanistan.
Along with having the big gun just across the street from Old Grouch’s, Glance keeps a couple of dummy shells on display near the front of his store. The gun arrived in Haywood County in 1965 from Virginia, but Glance hasn’t yet figured out what ship or submarine it was on. With that in mind, each time he paints it, he designates a vessel as a sort of stand in. This go-round, he chose the U.S.S. Pigeon, which bears the same name as the river that flows just a hundred yards from Old Grouch’s. The Pigeon was a minesweeper that served during both World War I and World War II but was sunk in May 1942.
Last time the gun was painted was about a year before Hurricane Helene tore through the area in September 2024. Glance said he would have liked to have painted it last summer, but with the region still licking its wounds, there were bigger fish to fry.
Two weeks ago, Glance began chipping away at the project, busting rust and applying primer where needed ahead of the fresh paint job. The bulk of the gray paint was laid down June 6, and then later in the week, finer details that needed other colors of paint were covered.
Glance’s desire to keep up the gun comes from his respect for what it represents as a monument, community pride, love of history and even simply liking a little a bit of routine maintenance, perhaps a reflection of his military job.
“It’s a little bit of all of it,” he said. “I love history. I spent hours trying to figure out what ship that came from.”