planes, killing 37 people and destroying 306 houses, six public buildings, nine watchtowers, and over of the wall. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of War, John J. McCloy, knew about the historic importance and beauty of Rothenburg, so he ordered US Army General Jacob L. Devers not to use artillery in taking Rothenburg. Battalion commander Frank Burke, a future Medal of Honor recipient, ordered six soldiers of the 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division to march into Rothenburg on a three-hour mission and negotiate the surrender of the town. First Lieutenant Noble V. Borders of Louisville, Kentucky, First Lieutenant Edmund E. Austingen of Hammond, Indiana, Private William M. Dwyer of Trenton, New Jersey, Private Herman Lichey of Glendale, California, Private Robert S. Grimm of Tower City, Pennsylvania, and Private Peter Kick of Lansing, Illinois were sent on the mission. When stopped by a German soldier, Private Lichey, who spoke fluent German and served as the group's translator, held up a white flag and explained, “We are representatives of our division commander. We bring you his offer to spare the city of Rothenburg from shelling and bombing if you agree not to defend it. We have been given three hours to get this message to you. If we haven’t returned to our lines by 1800 hours, the town will be bombed and shelled to the ground.” The local military commander Major Thömmes gave up the town, ignoring the order of Hitler for all towns to fight to the end and thereby saving it from total destruction by artillery. American troops of the 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division occupied the town on April 17, 1945, and in November 1948, McCloy was named an honorary citizen () of Rothenburg. Post-war reconstruction Around 40% of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, mainly in the eastern half of the town, had to be repaired or rebuilt after being bombed in World War II (about 30% of the old town's area would have been completely destroyed and subsequently rebuilt from the ground up). Many of the rebuilt facades can now be distinguished from the surviving medieval structures as being plainer, reconstruction aiming not to replicate exactly what stood before, only to rebuild in the same style as the surviving buildings so that the new buildings would still fit into the overall aesthetic of the town. Any surviving walls of bombed-out buildings were kept in their reconstructed facades as much as