PFC Bob Verness Speiser
In a beautiful Christmas season wedding in December 1942, he married Miss Mary Ann Stringfellow of near Vanlue. He was a senior in college, and the couple had five days in Chicago to celebrate, and then their plan was to finish the last year of college.
Bob enlisted in Toledo on August 21, 1943, and the papers reported that he was single with three years of college, but actually, he had graduated from Findlay, and he was married. His residence was Hancock County. He was first sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, and then Camp McCain in Mississippi for training, and then he was sent to the European Theater with the Third Army. He would be an infantryman.
He was sent from France into Germany in 1945 to the village above, Lampaden.
A bridge there was vital for the German supply line, and it was a target of the Americans.
The German "attack in the village started on a night so black with no moon; their forces were a full company of mountain infantry, plus a platoon of engineers. The German tactics were excellent; the village was quietly by-passed, encircled and infiltration into the main street... The Germans could be heard but not seen."
They surrounded two gun positions, and two of the enemy were shot while trying to position around the third. "After daybreak on March 6, the enemy attacked from all points and the fighting became fierce." Fighting was from house to house, and this was the situation when PFC Speiser became war's victim. The fighting continued into March 7, but now with machine gun fire and mortar fire, until the Germans were overcome and surrendered. (www.specialoperations.com)
PFC Speiser was first buried at the military cemetery in Ham, Luxembourg, but in July 1949, his remains were disinterred and sent home to be buried in the Ney Cemetery. News of his graveside rites appeared in the Crescent-News:
 |
| Ney Cemetery |
A memorial for his unit.
Robert Carpenter, Researcher
No comments:
Post a Comment