Tanks for the memories: WWII veteran rides a tank in Boston
Posted February 20, 2019 12:21 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BOSTON — Heroic World War II tank gunner Clarence Smoyer has been surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank.
The 95-year-old veteran says the inside of a tank was his home and the crew was his family during the war. In that sense, he returned home for the first time since the war Wednesday.
Smoyer is one of the last surviving WWII tank gunners who fought with the 3rd Armored Division, “The Spearhead Division.” In Cologne, Germany, he defeated a German tank in a dramatic duel by the city’s cathedral.
Author Adam Makos tells Smoyer’s story in a new book, “Spearhead.”
Smoyer expected a taxi ride from his hotel to the USS Constitution Museum for a book signing Wednesday. Makos arranged for the tank instead.
Jennifer McDermott, The Associated Press
