Later, Rooney would say it was the first time he witnessed death. Rooney, the future 60 Minutes newsman, held Kellner in his arms as he died. They moved him to onto a jumble of debris, safely out of the way, and attempted to stop the blood as it flowed from Kellner's severed limb. He was lying near the destroyed American tank. Andy Rooney - the future acclaimed television journalist - along with another man sprinted toward Kellner. Smoke lifted from his stump like a ghost fading into the air, witnessed remembered. He jumped from the tank and landed on his remaining leg. Smoyer was recognized for his heroic efforts during the battle of Cologne, Germany, where as a tank gunner, he delivered the fatal blows to a German Panther tank and was nicknamed "The Hero of Cologne."Īfter being hit, Kellner's leg was amputated at the knee. 18, 2019, during a ceremony at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Pictured left) Clarence Smoyer, receives his long-awaited Bronze Star Sept. The Wisconsin native, and Silver Star recipient, had received a battlefield commission to lieutenant just two weeks prior. One street over from Smoyer, the Panther tank, used by the Nazis, took out an American Sherman tank, killing three soldiers inside, including Karl Kellner. That's when a gunner's instinct kicked in." "We were chosen as the first tank(s) into the city," he added. "Not just in the horizontal plane, but from the basements to the tops of five-story buildings - Cologne put us to the test." "Attacking such a large city gave the enemy plenty of places to hide," Smoyer said. Their goal was to secure a bridge over the Rhine River, but a nearby Nazi tank had other plans. "So… we obliged," Smoyer joked, thinking back to that day.Īmerican forces, before making their way east toward Berlin, had to conquer Cologne first. This photo, courtesy of the National Archives, was taken moments after the battle of Cologne, Germany, and Smoyer delivered the fatal shots that destroyed a German tank.
Clarence Smoyer (top middle) was a 21-year-old Pennsylvania native when he, and his fellow tank crew members, were photographed in Cologne, Germany, in 1945.
0 kommentar(er)
