![]() To stop the rampage, Smoyer and his tank crew went and vanquished the Panther. On March 6, 1945, a German Panther tank had just knocked out two American tanks in Cologne, Germany, killing three men. ![]() ![]() “I’ll wear this medal for all the guys who didn’t come home,” Smoyer said at the ceremony. The others - John Deriggi (of Scranton), Homer Davis, William McVey, and Bob Earley - were also awarded the Bronze Star posthumously. Smoyer, 96 of Allentown, is the only surviving member of the tank crew that won the infamous battle. Here is a link to a video about Smoyer’s story as detailed in Spearhead.This comes almost 75 years after Smoyer’s act of heroism when he destroyed a Nazi tank in a dramatic duel in Cologne, Germany, that was captured on film by an Army cameramen and recently written about in the book “Spearhead,” by Adam Makos, whose father, Robert Makos, grew up in Plymouth. Pat Toomey and several of Smoyer’s war buddies and a surprise - a Sherman tank that was driven onto the National Mall. The ceremony, held at the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C., was attended by Sen. Army on Wednesday awarded World War II veteran Clarence Smoyer the Bronze Star - the medal he won for destroying a Nazi tank - and then later lost it over a stick of gum. Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
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