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Wayne E. Van Dyke In the drive for Houffalize, there were numerous examples of heroism. Sergeant (then Corporal) Wayne E. Van Dyke, Havana, Illinois, gunner in Company B, 41st Tank Battalion, earned a Silver Star for his action at Noville. When is tank was knocked out by an 88, he was left in the town with a seriously wounded driver and bow gunner. The tank commander and loader went to the rear to direct other tanks around the town. Van Dyke pulled the driver and bow gunner from the tank, dragged them over to a church wall, played dead while German troops marched through the town. Van Dyke sprawled on the driver who was suffering from shock. Once, a curious German came over to the apparently lifeless group and looked at the bow gunner’s wrist watch but didn’t touch him. After lying in this position for two hours, Van Dyke brought the two men into the church and placed the driver, who was unable to go farther, near the altar. Having given him first aid, Van Dyke and the bow gunner crawled back to their lines. The driver, in the meantime, was treated by a German medic and next day was rescued by his own men when they pushed into the town.
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