A veteran from Lehighton, featured in a book about his time in World War II, will be featured in a book signing from 4 to 6 p.m. today at the Moravian Book Shop, 428 Main St, Bethlehem.

The year was 1945. The end of the war in Europe had been declared with an allied victory.

In March of that year, American tanks rolled into Cologne, Germany, the heart of the Third Reich, to liberate the city from further Nazi occupation.

A 21-year-old gunner from Lehighton named Clarence Smoyer and his four-man crew rumbled down the streets of the Cologne in their Pershing Eagle 7 super tank, spearheading a mission to eliminate remaining German soldiers who had been ordered by the Nazi regime to fight to the last cartridge.

One afternoon, in an armored showdown between Smoyer’s Pershing and a German Panther IV tank, a collision of lives would forever change the course of personal histories for this young man from Lehighton, for the German tank gunner and for an innocent young woman who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In his book, “Spearhead,” a biographical account of Smoyer’s life, author Adam Makos tells the story of the former Carbon County native, who now lives in the Lehigh Valley.

See Saturday’s Times News for the full feature.