April 30--ALTON -- Two men accepted service medals posthumously Monday in honor of their brother, exactly 42 years to the day after they learned he had been killed in action while serving in Vietnam.
"I would like to thank (state Representative) Dan Beiser for helping us get the proper papers, the Veterans Administration, and (U.S. Representative) Bill Enyart for getting these medals," said Kevin Spencer, 59, of Godfrey, brother of the late U.S. Army medic Spc. 4th Class Stephen Spencer. "Thanks to everyone who came."
About 20 family members attended the morning ceremony in Alton City Council Chambers.
Spencer, 20, died April 24, 1971, while on patrol in Binh Duong Province. He was fatally shot while loading a wounded soldier into a truck. The lead tank had been hit by mortar fire.
"Forty-two years ago, Stephen died running to aid a fellow soldier," his two-years-younger brother, Kevin, said through his tears. "Forty-two years later, you still see people run to help save other people's lives. That's what heroes do."
Enyart, D-Belleville, a Vietnam War era veteran of the U.S. Air Force, presented Kevin and Dennis Spencer, 69, of Alton -- another of Stephen's brothers -- with the Purple Heart medal, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service medal, Vietnam Service medal with two bronze service stars, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960), Sharpshooter Badge with Auto Rifle Bar and the Good Conduct Medal.
"As a veteran, I find it a particular honor to be here to do this," Enyart said, also mentioning state Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, a Vietnam War veteran, who was part of the ceremony.
"I am happy to be here for the Spencers -- a comrade," Haine said.
Enyart described what each medal represented as he alternated giving them to the brothers, flanked by their wives.
Stephen Spencer, who was drafted, entered the U.S. Army on Jan. 28, 1970, and completed basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He then underwent special training as a medic at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Spencer was deployed to Vietnam on July 11, 1970, and assigned to an armored cavalry regiment.
When Spencer was killed, his mother, Roeanna, refused to accept the medals, said Kevin's wife, Janet.
"His mother was overcome with grief," she said. "She did not want his medals."
Before she married Kevin, Janet Spencer said she worked in an Alton hospital with Roeanna Spencer, who asked her whether she would write to her "lonely" son serving in Vietnam. Janet Spencer said she began writing to the medic; to their delight, he sent photos of himself in April 1971.
She said the women happily showed the pictures around their workplace, sadly not knowing he had been killed a few days earlier. It took the U.S. Army five days to notify the family of his death.
Last August, Janet Spencer saw Beiser, D-Alton, at a local grocery store. She told him the family now wanted Stephen's medals, and asked for help in obtaining them. Beiser contacted Enyart. Beiser had grown up on Lawton Street and was friends with the Spencer children, who also lived on that short street.
Beiser said it was "uncanny" how it worked out for Enyart to obtain the medals and schedule the ceremony on the anniversary of when the family learned about Stephen Spencer's death.
Beiser told how the neighborhood, by Christian Hill, was called "Oakridge Estates." He recalled how he had gotten a new, red Schwinn bicycle as a boy.
"An acorn fight broke out" involving the Spencers, including Stephen. The bike ended up getting dented and Beiser getting beaned by an acorn, he said.
Later, the carefree days on Lawton were to end with Stephen's death.
"When I went to Gent Funeral Home, where my parents had not taken us before, the innocence of Lawton Street was broken when Steve died," Beiser said.
Janet Spencer said she and Kevin will keep the medals at their home.
"We have a Vietnam memorial to Stephen," she said. "It has his flag from his coffin, pictures of Stephen, his handkerchief he wore on his head, and a picture of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall" in Washington D.C.
She said the couple also made a rubbing of Stephen's name from the engraving on the black granite wall for their display.
Other siblings unable to come to the presentation were Mary Ann Zahner of Alton, Dane Spencer of Troy and Cindy Burns of Sumner, Ill.
Both Roeanna and Stephen's father, John D. Spencer, are deceased.
lweller@thetelegraph.com
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©2013 The Telegraph (Alton, Ill.)
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