Name: Clyde L. Choate
Rank: Staff Sergeant
War: World War II (European Theater)
Date of Action: October 25, 1944
Unit: Company C, 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion
Born: June 28, 1920 – West Frankfort, Illinois
Entered Service At: Anna, Illinois
Summary of Action
As dusk fell near Bruyères, France, American infantry clung to their shallow foxholes while a German Mark IV tank and a full company of enemy soldiers advanced, threatening to crush the position and seize a nearby command post. Staff Sergeant Clyde Choate’s tank destroyer crew was the only armored defense available—but two direct hits from the enemy set it ablaze. Ordering his men to evacuate, Choate escaped the burning wreck, only to turn back into the inferno to make sure no one remained trapped inside.
When he emerged, the German tank was tearing through the American line. Snatching up a bazooka, Choate sprinted after it through gunfire, taking cover behind trees as bullets shredded his jacket and tore the helmet from his head. From just twenty yards away, he fired—disabling the tank. Then, after retrieving another rocket, he advanced to within ten yards, blasted the turret, and finished the job by tossing a grenade inside. With their armor destroyed, the German infantry broke and fell back. Choate’s one-man assault stopped a breakthrough, saved a battalion command post, and turned the tide of battle through sheer courage and determination.
Medal of Honor Citation
CHOATE, CLYDE L.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion. Place and date: Near Bruyeres, France, 25 October 1944. Entered service at: Anna, Ill. Born: 28 June 1920, West Frankfurt, Ill. G.O. No.: 75, 5 September 1945.
Citation: He commanded a tank destroyer near Bruyeres, France, on 25 October 1944. Our infantry occupied a position on a wooded hill when, at dusk, an enemy Mark IV tank and a company of infantry attacked, threatening to overrun the American position and capture a command post 400 yards to the rear. S/Sgt. Choate’s tank destroyer, the only weapon available to oppose the German armor, was set afire by two hits. Ordering his men to abandon the destroyer, S/Sgt. Choate reached comparative safety. He returned to the burning destroyer to search for comrades possibly trapped in the vehicle, risking instant death in an imminent explosion and braving enemy fire which ripped his jacket and tore the helmet from his head. Completing the search and seeing the tank and its supporting infantry overrunning our infantry in their shallow foxholes, he secured a bazooka and ran after the tank, dodging from tree to tree and passing through the enemy’s loose skirmish line. He fired a rocket from a distance of twenty yards, immobilizing the tank but leaving it able to spray the area with cannon and machinegun fire. Running back to our infantry through vicious fire, he secured another rocket, and, advancing against a hail of machinegun and small-arms fire, reached a position ten yards from the tank. His second shot shattered the turret. With his pistol he killed two of the crew as they emerged from the tank; and then, running to the crippled Mark IV while enemy infantry sniped at him, he dropped a grenade inside the tank and completed its destruction. With their armor gone, the enemy infantry became disorganized and was driven back. S/Sgt. Choate’s great daring in assaulting an enemy tank single-handed, his determination to follow the vehicle after it had passed his position, and his skill and crushing thoroughness in the attack prevented the enemy from capturing a battalion command post and turned a probable defeat into a tactical success.
