American Military News September 22, 2019 Nicole Radzievich
World War II gunner Clarence Smoyer, whose heroism in an epic tank duel was enshrined on film, believed for 74 years he missed his shot at the Bronze Star over chewing gum.
Children in the ruins of the German city of Cologne, just days after the battle there, had beseeched the 21-year-old corporal for “Kaugummi.†After Smoyer turned his pockets inside out to show them he had no gum, military police pulled up and accused him of fraternizing with the enemy.
That write-up landed him in a meeting with his captain who threatened to assign him to the kitchen police as punishment. KP sounded like a vacation, retorted Smoyer. He assured his captain he wanted to remain with his crew in an experimental tank that would lead the dangerous advance across Germany during what would become the war’s final months. That display of defiance, Smoyer came to believe, cost him the Bronze Star that his lieutenant had told him just days earlier he would get after taking out two Nazi tanks, including a fearsome Panther, during the Battle of Cologne.
The seeming injustice now has been righted. Smoyer along with his tank crew, received the Bronze Star on Wednesday in a surprise ceremony at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Before an audience that included family of his crew, World War II veterans and dignitaries, Maj. Pete Semanoff, of the U.S. Army 1st Calvary Division, presented the military honor to Smoyer, who’s now 96, and posthumously to Smoyer’s three tank mates: Homer Davis of Kentucky, John DeRiggi of Levittown, Bucks County, and William McVey of Michigan.
“I wear this in memory of all the young people who have lost their lives in battle,†Smoyer, of Allentown, told reporters after the ceremony.
More:
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2019/09/bronze-star-pinned-on-wwii-veteran-from-allentown-74-years-after-epic-tank-duel/
