9/16/2023 0 Comments Ww2 tank battle cologne![]() Service members from the USS Constitution and onlookers came outside to salute Smoyer and the tank as it rolled down the street.Īfter Smoyer was drafted in 1943, he served on a Sherman tank, first as the person responsible for loading ammunition and later as a gunner. The American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Massachusetts, sent the tank and reenactors representing infantrymen to walk alongside for the short trip to the museum. Instead, he found a 32-ton (33 metric ton) Sherman tank from 1944 waiting outside.Ī huge smile flashed across Smoyer's face when he walked outside and saw the tank, saying it was a shock to see it. Smoyer, who lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania, had expected a taxi to take him from his hotel to the USS Constitution Museum for a book signing Wednesday. Makos started making calls and Smoyer started doing physical therapy, in case it worked out. Smoyer would make offhand comments to Makos about how he'd like to get aboard his old Sherman tank one last time. In 1945, he defeated a German Panther tank near the cathedral in Cologne, Germany - a dramatic duel filmed by an Army cameraman that was seen all over the world.Īuthor Adam Makos tells Smoyer's story in the book "Spearhead," which was released Tuesday. ![]() Army's 3rd Armored Division, nicknamed the Spearhead Division. One of the last surviving WWII tank gunners, Smoyer was surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank. In that sense, the 95-year-old veteran returned home Wednesday for the first time since World War II. BOSTON (AP) - The inside of a tank was Clarence Smoyer's home, and the crew was his family.
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