Lehighton native Clarence Smoyer is making more appearances since the book about his war experiences was released.

In his book, “Spearhead,” a biographical account of Smoyer’s life, author Adam Makos talks about Smoyer’s time in World War II.

This weekend, Michael Scullion, Honorary Consul of France, will present the Medaille de la Legion d Honneur to Smoyer and two other veterans.

The event will take place at the Consulate of France in Philadelphia.

Smoyer will also do a book signing and meet and greet from 6 to 7:30 p.m. May 22 at the Lehighton Area Elementary Center cafeteria.

One of World War II’s most legendary tank gunners, Smoyer, of Lehighton, enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 1943, according to Makos,

After training at Fort Indiantown Gap, he was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division, one of America’s two heavy armored divisions, later known by the nom de guerre: “The Spearhead Division.”

Smoyer came ashore three weeks after D-Day and served as a loader and later, gunner, on a Sherman tank.

On Sept. 2, 1944, he knocked-out a Panzer IV tank that had infiltrated American lines at Mons, Belgium, the first of five tanks that he would be responsible for disabling or destroying. Having been assigned to one of twenty top-secret Pershing tanks rushed to the European Theatre, Smoyer earned a notable place in history during the battle for Cologne, Germany, where he fought a dramatic duel with a German Panther tank at the city’s cathedral.

An army cameraman filmed this engagement and the resulting footage appeared in newsreels worldwide. Smoyer would go on to fight with the Spearhead Division until the end of the war in Europe. In civilian life, he married his sweetheart, Melba, had three children, and worked his way into a supervisor’s position at an industrial plant.