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Personal info

Full name
SPYKER, Richard Piper
Date of birth
23 February 1915
Age
29
Place of birth
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Hometown
Alexandria, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

Military service

Service number
33846156
Rank
Private First Class
Function
Rifleman
Unit
C Company,
1st Battalion,
318th Infantry Regiment,
80th Infantry Division
Awards
Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
27 December 1944
Place of death
In the vicinity of Livarchamps, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
H 11 87

Immediate family

Members
Charles A. Spyker (father)
Bertha M. (Piper) Spyker (mother)
Harold L. Spyker (brother)
Eleanor G. Spyker (sister)
Charles N. Spyker (brother)
Walter A. Spyker (brother)
Miriam I. Spyker (sister)
Winifred M. Spyker (sister)
Madeline (Yarnell) Spyker (wife)
Charles R. Spyker (son)

More information

Pfc Richard P. Spyker graduated from Alexandria High School in 1934 and had been employed at the Stowe Fuller Refractories Company.

He enlisted at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland on 17 March 1944. He was sent overseas on 9 August. He had been wounded in France and recently returned to his unit.

He was killed by small arms fire in the heart.

The Alexandria American Legion - William P. Spyker American Legion Post 520 - was named in his honor.

Source of information: Leo Minne, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com – 1930/1940 Census / Headstone and Interment Record / U.S. WWII Hospital Admission Card Files / U.S. Draft Cards Young Men, www.80thdivision.com
Photo source: Peter Schouteten