John Spurgeon

Birthplace: Murdock, KS

Branch of Service: Army

Unit: 9th Tank Battalion, 20th Armored Division

Theater of Operation: European

Enlisted / Commissioned: Feb 26, 1943

Discharged: Feb 13, 1946

Highest Rank: Tech 4

Military Honors: Good Conduct Medal, Tank Weapons Expert, Honorable Discharge

Honored By: Family

He was living in Murdock KS at the time of his induction into the Army. His service no. is 37 511 230. He eventually was assigned to armor training at Ft Knox KY. He was trained as a light tank crewman and his role during his time while serving in Europe was as the tank driver. His unit, 9th Tank Battalion, which was part of the 20th Armored Division, landed at Le Havre late in the war in Europe and ended up in Salzburg, Austria when the war in Europe was over. One sobering event that he mentioned during his journey across Europe was coming to the Dachau concentration camp shortly after the camp was liberated and seeing the plight of the former prisoners there. We still have his “yearbook” that was presented to members of the 20th Armored Division that documented the journey traveled in photos and text, and includes pictures taken at Dachau. Another interesting comment he made was that since his unit was later getting into the war, they were told they would be one of the first to participate in the invasion of mainland Japan; but with the dropping of the A-bombs that never happened.