Union-Williamson County IL Archives Military Records.....Choate, Clyde L. October 25, 1944
WWII Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion
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Tim Casey timcasey5@gmail.com and   April 7, 2008, 8:54 pm

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 Frankfort, 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 2 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 explosion which was
imminent 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 20 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
10 yards from the tank. His second shot
shattered the turret. With his pistol he killed 2 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. 


Additional Comments:
Copied from U.S. Army History site by Tim Casey
http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/wwII-a-f.html

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/union/military/ww2/other/choate20mt.txt

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