As a soldier, Spurrier ‘did all you could ever ask’

BLUEFIELD — Staff Sgt. J.I. “Junior” Spurrier did everything his country asked him to do, but as the generation of Americans who survived the horrible realities of World War II continues to slip from this world into the next, there are fewer and fewer people living who can recall the sacrifices that combat soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines made for freedom during that time.

“I had heard of Junior Spurrier when I was a kid, but I didn’t meet him until I started working with the Bluefield Police Department,” Jim Dent, now a Mercer County magistrate said.

“Lt. (Richard) Lambert was my training officer,” Dent said. “Lt. Lambert had served with Patton’s tank corps during World War II. That was the outfit that advanced so fast that the Red Ball Express supply trucks couldn’t catch up with them.”

Dent said that Lambert spoke to Spurrier on Princeton Avenue and introduced him to Dent. “I was a rookie when I got to meet him,” he said. “That was in the late 1950s or early ‘60s. I had just come out of the Marine Corps and that was a big deal for me to meet someone who received the Congressional Medal of Honor. It’s our nation’s highest honor for valor.”

Eleven West Virginians received the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War II. Six of those so honored, including Marine Sgt. Herbert J. Thomas Jr., Staff Sgt. Jonah Edward Kelley, 2nd Lt. Robert E. Femoyer, Tech. Sgt. Clinton M. Hedrick, Marine Lt. Col. Justice M. Chambers and Pfc. Walter C. Wetzel were killed in action, and were awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.

Spurrier and the four other Medal of Honor recipients who received their medals during World War II, include Marine Sgt. Hershel Woodrow Williams, Tech. Sgt. Bernard P. Bell, Tech. Sgt. Stanley Bender and Cpl. Melvin Mayfield.

“(Hershel) ‘Woody’ Williams was here in Mercer County two or three years ago,” Tony Whitlow, president of the “For Those Who Served Museum” in the Mercer County Memorial Building said. “We have his picture on the wall coming up the steps to the museum. We got him a little step ladder, and he climbed up it to sign his autograph on his photo. And he’s in his 80s.

“I tell you, Woody is a tremendous man,” Whitlow continued. “He took a flame-thrower into the Japanese machine gun positions on Iwo Jima and kept moving forward.” Whitlow served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, but was not in combat.

“He’s a great guy,” Whitlow said of Williams. “The women had some kind of a function over at the 4-H Camp in Glenwood and Woody came over to visit the museum.” According to Whitlow, Williams is the only World War II Medal of Honor recipient from West Virginia still living.

Spurrier, whose father worked as a locomotive engineer in the Bluefield yard of the Norfolk & Western Railway, enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 1940. He was serving in the Pacific when the war started, but returned to the U.S. briefly before heading to Europe to serve as a staff sergeant, platoon commander with Company K, 134th Infantry, 35th Division, 9th Army.

In the fall of 1944, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his leadership when his platoon took a hill near Lay St. Christopher. During that engagement, Spurrier mounted a tank destroyer, took its .50 caliber machine gun and cleared the way for his platoon to take the hill. Spurrier captured 25 German soldiers during that battle.

On Nov. 14, 1944, Spurrier and his platoon were advancing on the town of Achain, France. After ordering his platoon to assault the town in one direction, Spurrier attempted to enter the town from another direction. He used an assortment of U.S. and German weapons in his attack including a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), M-1 rifle, U.S. and German rocket launchers, a German pistol and hand grenades to kill 25 German soldiers and trap 20 more in a barn. Spurrier set the barn on fire and captured 20 German soldiers who were inside.

On March 27, 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of Allied forces in Europe, presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to Spurrier. Upon returning home, Spurrier and all veterans were honored in a “Heroes’ Day” parade through Bluefield on July 4, 1945.

Spurrier, who was 22 at the time of the parade, had a difficult time adjusting to civilian life with all eyes watching him and constantly living under the glare of the public spotlight. During the next 39 years, Spurrier made local headlines because of run-ins with the law in West Virginia and Maryland.

“They didn’t say much about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in combat veterans of World War II,” Whitlow said. “I know Junior had a rough time adjusting, but what he did over there was amazing. As a soldier, this guy did all you could ever ask.”

Whitlow and museum volunteers have worked to tell the stories of those who served in all of the nation’s military engagements. “The first thing people see when they enter the museum is the display we have concerning Junior Spurrier,” Whitlow said. “That first battle he fought (at Lay St. Christopher) should have merited him receiving the Medal of Honor, but then he captured Achain and earned the nickname, ‘One Man Army.’

“When you see the banner and see the picture of Junior with General Eisenhower, it is really quite impressive,” Whitlow said. “I’ve read that President Harry Truman said he would rather receive the Medal of Honor than be President of the United States.” Truman served in combat during World War I.

Whitlow said that the museum has been closed since October while the Memorial Building undergoes some extensive renovation. “They’re doing quite a bit of work in there,” Whitlow said. “We’ve been getting a lot of calls about when we’ll be open. I’d like to be open before July.”

Whitlow said the Junior Spurrier display draws a lot of attention. “We had a guy who served in the 35th Infantry Division who came here all the way from Illinois,” Whitlow said.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

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