My Great Grandfather on my dad's side was a tank commander in WW2.

There is a remarkable
story about him that I have only heard pieces of. During battle his platoon was compromised by
the greater German tanks, and the remaining in service tanks had to split up. The German
Panzers were picking them off one by one, and my great grandfather's tank was the only one still
chugging. They went for another mile, and found themselves surrounded by enemy tanks. They
were behind Nazi lines, and it was looking like the end for my great grandfather. His crew got
out there pistols, and manned the gun turret as best as they could. The tank was quickly crippled,
and the crew was forced out. What my great grandfather did at this time was roll out of the
bottom hatch and started shooting the Nazis ankle from under the tank. His whole crew had been
shot down within ten minutes, but he remained under the tank and played dead. The Germans
searched the area for remaining survivors, and passed right over my grandfather. He then
crawled what was like 3 miles back to base camp. This story is strikingly similar to the award-
winning movie Fury, with Brad Pitt, which brought up question to who this movie is actually
about.

I did some further research and the battle he was involved in was the mother of all battles, The
Battle of the Bulge. This was the last German offensive on the Western front, and ultimately the
end of the Nazi Regime. It was one of the biggest battles in the planet's history. Starting on
December 16th, 1944 and ending on January 25th, 1945, the Germans sent everything thing they
had left at the Allies. The Battle of the Bulge is synonymous for tank battles, and my Great
Grandfather, Charles Swanson, was right in the middle of it. He was commanding a M4 Sherman
Tank in the 3rd Battalion under General Patton. The Sherman was inferior to the German Panzer,
making it especially hard for Americans to get out alive when faced with a Panzer. The only
thing that the Sherman had over the Panzer was speed and maneuverability. The story I told
above may sound crazy, but it is true. So, Tank Commanders such as my Great Grandfather had
to be master navigators, a trait that my Grandfather insists that he has when going on long car
rides to unfamiliar places. He says, I can feel my way around just like my dad did on the
battlefield. Which is true, Ive never been lost once when he was driving.