Biography
Choate was born in West Frankfort, Illinois, one of twelve children born to a coal miner. He joined the Army from Anna, Illinois, and by October 25, 1944 was serving as a Staff Sergeant in Company C, 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion. On that day, near Bruyères in eastern France, his tank destroyer was hit and set on fire in an attack by German forces. He ordered his crew to abandon the destroyer and reached a position of relative safety, but then returned through hostile fire to the burning vehicle to make sure no one was trapped inside. Seeing a German tank overrunning American infantry soldiers, he single-handedly attacked and destroyed the tank. In a ceremony at the White House on August 23, 1945, President Harry S. Truman presented Choate with the Medal of Honor for his actions near Bruyères.
After the war, Choate left the Army and began a career in politics. In 1946, he was elected as a Democrat to the Illinois House of Representatives. He remained in the Illinois state legislature for the next thirty years, and served as both majority leader and minority leader. He then retired from politics and became the director of external affairs for Southern Illinois University.
Choate and his wife Madonna had two daughters, Kim and Elizabeth.
He died at age 81 at a hospital in Carbondale, Illinois, from complications of congestive heart failure. He was buried at Anna Cemetery in his town of residence, Anna, Illinois.
Read more about this topic: Clyde L. Choate
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