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Havlat lost his life a mere six hours before Germany’s unconditional surrender.

Taken prisoner, the German officer who led the ambush knew nothing of the cessation of hostilities at the time of the attack, and apologized for the incident. His fellow soldiers returned fire until their radio operator received word that some nine minutes before the ambush, a cease fire order had gone into effect. Moments after the attack began, Havlat took a bullet to the head, ending his life. On the morning of May 7, 1945, on a dirt road twelve kilometers into Czechoslovakia, Havlat’s reconnaissance platoon was blindsided by a hail of enemy machine gun and small arms fire from concealed enemy positions. Three months later, his unit helped capture Trier, Germany and crossed the Rhine. In the autumn of 1944 Havlat saw combat at Aachen and the Huertgen Forest, and on December 16, Havlat found himself in the Ardennes Forest at the onset of The Battle of the Bulge. His battalion continued on across northern France, through Belgium and Holland, before reaching the Siegfried Line. In the invasion of Normandy, Havlat and his comrades fought their way from Omaha Beach to St. He served with the 803 rd Tank Destroyer Battalion in some of bloodiest battles of the war. Havlat, who was born to Czech immigrants in Nebraska, arrived in England in June 1943. He is buried in Plot C, Row 5, Grave 75, in Lorraine American Cemetery, France. Havlat is considered to be the last American killed in the European Theater of Operations. Charley Havlat, who was shot in a German ambush on May 7. In these last days of World War II in Europe, American soldiers continued to fight bravely. Allied armies were advancing on all European fronts the imminent surrender of Germany was a certainty. By the first week of May 1945, the German Army was almost totally destroyed.