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Personal info

Full name
SPOONER, John Wessel
Date of birth
20 November 1919
Age
25
Place of birth
Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina
Hometown
New Hanover County, North Carolina

Military service

Service number
O1169345
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Assistant Platoon Leader
Unit
A Company,
1st Battalion,
504th Parachute Infantry Regiment,
82nd Airborne Division,
2nd Platoon
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
7 April 1945
Place of death
St. Stephanus Church
Hitdorf, Leverkusen, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
N 9 14

Immediate family

Members
Snowden W. Spooner (father)
Eugenia F. (Watkins) Spooner (mother)
Snowden W. Spooner (brother)
Mary J. Spooner (sister)
Pauline H. (Short) Spooner (wife)

More information

1st Lt John W. Spooner attended New Hanover High School.

He enlisted in Camp Shelby, Mississippi on 8 October 1941.

The 2nd Platoon, under the command of Lt James Keirnan, was split into two groups that fought their way to the initial objective. During this assault, Lt Spooner, Keirnan's assistant platoon leader, was hit. Kiernan immediately went to him, administering first aid to him as from artillery and mortar fire as well as enemy tracers lit up the darkness all around him. Kiernan dragged Spooner to the village church, the company's first objective. He would die in the church.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.findagrave.com - John Evans, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, https://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/504/504.html, www.ancestry.com - Family trees

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Des Philippet, www.e-yearbook.com - New Hanover High School Yearbook 1937