When someone posts a hard to believe "It Actually Happened" story, it would be so nice to link some proof. I can imagine some company deciding it to be too expensive having to translate and check every dimension on every drawing of every subsystem. But, then you miss out on the fun of acting like all the US doesn't know how to do metric.
Well here's your info, then;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1917_light_tank
.
"the project was beset by problems: the French specifications were metric and incompatible with American (imperial) machinery; coordination between military departments, suppliers, and manufacturers was poor; bureaucratic inertia, lack of cooperation from military departments, and possible vested interests delayed progress."
.
So yes, it is exaggerated, but it's a cartoon, what did you expect?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1917_light_tank
.
"the project was beset by problems: the French specifications were metric and incompatible with American (imperial) machinery; coordination between military departments, suppliers, and manufacturers was poor; bureaucratic inertia, lack of cooperation from military departments, and possible vested interests delayed progress."
.
So yes, it is exaggerated, but it's a cartoon, what did you expect?