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Tiny_Difficulty_6848
Ok so crazy story on this one. Julian Patrick is my father’s uncle, he was one of 6 in the family who fought in the war and the only one KIA.The letter from the War Department that informed the family of his passing only said he was killed in action during operations in western Germany, but had no further details. Our whole family were big into WWII documentaries, and since the battle of cologne cathedral is such a well documented event, it’s in hundreds of war in Europe documentaries. For literally decades, our family had watched the video of the Sherman being hit and the tank commander rolling out with a blown off leg. For decades, my father had unknowingly watched his uncle die. It wasn’t until about 4 years ago that during an internet search we found this photo online that finally informed the video of where he died and how he died. Crazy family story. Sadly, his mother and father didn’t live long enough to find out. But his memory lives on with other members of the family!

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Outrageous_Window_13
Two 75mm rounds hit the M4's mantlet one after the other and the hatches were blown open by the impact. Three of the crew managed to get out, the gunner wounded by shrapnel/spalling, but the commander Karl Kellner fell onto the engine decking with one leg missing. U.S. Army war correspondent Sergeant Andy Rooney and a crewman from the other hit M4 got him to the ground but he died soon after.

If you've seen the footage by Rooney and Jim Bates, it's maybe a bit weird to recognise the surviving buildings on Google Streetview, especially given that the building on the left corner of the footage of the burning Panther is now a McDonalds.

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the_howling_cow
Part of the famous tank duel in Cologne on 6 March 1945 where a Panther knocked out one Sherman before being knocked out itself by a T26E3 Pershing. An annotated video with the film of the battle can be found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBI9d0-IfEM. The Sherman was hit twice on the lower left part of the gun mantlet by the Panther and the shots presumably ricocheted around inside the turret; the commander who can be seen bailing out of the tank, Second Lieutenant Karl E. Kellner, lost his left leg above the knee and died of his wound a short time later. His loader, Technician Fifth Grade Curtis W. Speer, and driver, Private First Class Julian H. Patrick, were killed instantly by the impacts.

Henry J. Earl:
“The hit was low on the side. The interior of the tank was lit by a ball of fire caused by the terrific friction of the penetration. A white hot eighteen-pound projectile entered the empty ammunition rack under the floor. The earlier modes of the M-4 “Sherman” medium tank did not store ammunition under the turret floor. The steel walls of the compartment prevented the molten metal from striking the interior of the hulland ricocheting throughout the tank. This saved the crew.” Sadly, in this occasion, none steel wall protected nor saved this soldier. Pfc. Julian H. Patrick was born in Magoffin County, KY, on April 29, 1921. He was the youngest of 4 brothers serving in WWII. The three other brothers survived the war. Julian was first buried in Belgium, his body returned in 1947 to the USA and interred in the family cemetery in Salyersville, KY.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_soldier_and_tank_driver_Julian_Patrick_of_Kentucky,_a_member_of_the_3rd_US_Armored_Division,_killed_in_action_inside_his_tank_on_March_6,_1945_during_the_tank_duel_at_the_Cathedral_of_Cologne._%2837436352374%29.png