Joe Ekins
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Joe Ekins (b. 1924, United Kingdom) is a retired World War II British Army veteran who recently gained recognition for killing famous German tank commander, Michael Wittmann in 1944 near St. Aignan de Cramesnil, France.
Ekins was only twenty one and had yet to fire the gun of his Sherman Firefly in combat, when his unit, the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, of three regular Shermans and his own Firefly, came upon three German Tiger tanks. What followed was an almost twelve minute battle that saw Ekins destroying all three Tigers. He was unaware at the time that one of the Tigers contained Waffen-SS tank ace, Michael Wittmann, who was himself credited with destroying two hundred armoured vehicles. Joe Ekins time as a tank gunner was short, as his tank was knocked out by another Tiger later that day. While he survived, he was reassigned as a wireless radio operator on his next tank assignment.
Many allied units, from airborne to other tank units, claimed to have killed the famed German tank commander, but it would not be until 2006 that Ekins was confirmed as the one who killed Wittmann. After the war, Ekins returned to Rushden, Northamptonshire, where he worked in a shoe factory, married and had two children.
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