He also donated autographed book plates to be handed out at the meeting. Makos will attend the book club via Skype, answering questions from the group. A lot of veterans feel kinship with each other regardless of which conflict they served in,' Roelke said. 'We've also had a large number of Vietnam vets sign up. Many had brothers who served in World War II and there's a familial tie. 'We have a lot of Korean War veterans coming.

'We've had a few (World War II veterans) express interest but it's a day to day thing when you're 90,' said Roelke. She tried to find World War II tank veterans from southeastern Wisconsin to participate in the March 9 book group but has been unable to find any. While the mission of the group is taking veterans on trips to Washington, D.C., to visit monuments, its secondary mission is sharing the stories and heroism of veterans with the community, said spokeswoman Karyn Roelke. At that meeting area Korean War veterans helped lead the discussion.

Stars and Stripes Honor Flight doesn't fly during the winter, so in 2016 organizers decided to schedule a book club, choosing another book by Makos, 'Devotion,' about an incredible tale of heroism during the Korean War Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. I realized the odds of this happening were one in a million for two men to both be living 70 years later and both wanting to meet and actually doing it,' Makos said. 'I knew I was watching history unfolding. This unit saw a lot of action and was one of the quietest in the business.' 'Reporters couldn't wire back and say what they had seen or where the Spearhead Division was located. 'Often war reporters didn't report on them because (the tanks) were operating in secrecy behind enemy lines and in radio silence,' Makos said in a recent phone interview. But unlike other units such as General George Patton's 3rd Army or the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions, the Spearhead Division didn't get much ink. The 3rd Armored Division was known as the Spearhead Division because it usually led the way into battles. It's the next book in the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight book club, which is open to anyone who wants to read and discuss the book on March 9 at the War Memorial Center in Milwaukee. Smoyer's riveting story is told in 'Spearhead: The World War II Odyssey of an American Tank Gunner' published last month.

Author Adam Makos learned by chance of a man who was one of the best marksmen of America's World War II tank crews in Europe and one day several years ago he knocked on Clarence Smoyer's door in Pennsylvania.

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