{"id":13619,"date":"2017-10-09T00:44:54","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T00:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/10\/09\/this-years-honorary-sma-is-a-decorated-4-star-who-survived-a-terror-attack\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:42:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:42:45","slug":"this-years-honorary-sma-is-a-decorated-4-star-who-survived-a-terror-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2017\/10\/09\/this-years-honorary-sma-is-a-decorated-4-star-who-survived-a-terror-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s Honorary SMA is a decorated 4-star who survived a terror attack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey will bestow the title of \u201cHonorary SMA\u201d on a World War II veteran during his Monday luncheon at AUSA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s distinction goes to 94-year-old retired Gen. Frederick Kroesen, SMA spokesman Master Sgt. Tyrone Marshall told Army Times. Kroesen retired in 1983 after 39 years of service, ending his career as the vice chief of staff of the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Official photo for Gen. Frederick Kroesen (Wikimedia Commons).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the four-star, who boasts three Combat Infantryman Badges, two Silver Stars and a Distinguished Flying Cross, is best known for surviving a 1981 terrorist attack while he was commander of U.S. Army Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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General Frederick Kroesen, presides over a change of command ceremony while serving as U.S. Army Europe commander on July 1, 1982 in Grafenwoehr, Germany (Wikimedia Commons).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Sept. 15, 1981, Kroesen was riding through Heidlberg, Germany, with his wife when a rocket-propelled granade exploded in the trunk of their armored Mercedes, the New York Times reported<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The assassination attempt had been coordinated by the Baader-Meinhof gang \u2014 known as the Red Army Faction in English \u2014 a left wing, Soviet-sympathizing terrorist group active in West Germany during the late 1970s and early 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kroesen and his wife survived the attack with only minor cuts, according the New York Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\t