Joe A. Collyard
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
Joe A. Collyard was inducted into the Army March 28, 1941, Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Home at entry: Hibbing, Minnesota. Served as a Technician Fifth Grade and rifleman with the 357th Infantry Regiment in Rhineland.
From his son: "My father and a handful of men were out on patrol on a rainy day and cam across a road at the same time that a horse-drawn German Army cart was coming. They decided to slow them down by shooting the horses. After doing so, many German soldiers came out of the cart....As the Germans were running for cover, the bushes parted and out came a German tank. Joe and his buddies wanted to get out of there fast, but they had to climb a steep embankment that was muddy from the rain. Joe had mud running into his mouth as he and his buddies scrambled up that nearly vertical bank. They narrowly escaped and, years later, my father told me that if it weren't for the incentive that the tank created, they probably wouldn't have been able to climb that muddy, slippery bank."
Awarded:
Bronze Star Medal
Good Conduct Medal
Combat Infantryman Badge
American Defense Service Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze battle star, and World War II Victory Medal.
Honorably discharged August 14, 1945, Hospital Center, Camp Carson, Colorado.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The Saint Louis County World War II Project, page 59.
