The inside of a tank was Clarence Smoyer’s home, and the crew was his family.
BOSTON — The inside of a tank was Clarence Smoyer’s home, and the crew was his family.
In that sense, the 95-year-old veteran returned home Wednesday for the first time since World War II. One of the last surviving WWII tank gunners, Smoyer was surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank.
Smoyer fought with the U. S. Army’s 3rd Armored Division, nicknamed the Spearhead Division. 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.
Author Adam Makos tells Smoyer’s story in the book « Spearhead, » which was released Tuesday. Smoyer would make offhand comments to Makos about how he’d like to get aboard his old Sherman tank one last time. Makos started making calls and Smoyer started doing physical therapy, in case it worked out.
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. Instead, he found a 32-ton (33 metric ton) Sherman tank from 1944 waiting outside.
A huge smile flashed across Smoyer’s face when he walked outside and saw the tank, saying it was a shock to see it.
« That tank saved my life, » he said.
The American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Massachusetts, sent the tank and reenactors representing infantrymen to walk alongside for the short trip to the museum.
