![]() 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. The seeming injustice now has been righted. ![]() 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. 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. KP sounded like a vacation, retorted Smoyer. ![]() ![]() That write-up landed him in a meeting with his captain who threatened to assign him to the kitchen police as punishment. 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.Ĭhildren 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. ![]()
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