World War II Veteran Finally Honored for His Service

(June 29, 2012) -  After 66 years, this week’s Billy Johnson Community Hero finally received the recognition he deserves. When World War II veteran Scott Spradlin of Pike County was discharged from the war in 1945, he had earned many awards for his service. The building in St. Louis, Missouri, that housed these records, however, burnt down. So when Spradlin found a package containing 11 medals in his mail a few weeks ago, he wasn’t expecting it.

        “I was kind of surprised. After 66 years, I’d always forgot about them.”
        In 1943, 18-year-old Scott Spradlin was called to military service. Never having been away from home, he was taken overseas to Naples, Italy, where he received medical training. Serving as a medic on the combat medical team, Spradlin dealt with several horrifying situations on a day-to-day basis.
       “This guy was one of the soldiers in the infantry, and he stepped on a landmine and blew both of his feet off. That was my first patient to operate on and I had to take care of him. I had to put tourniquets on him and bandage him up and by the time he was done, someone else was screaming and hollering. I did that for 2 years, until the war was over.”
       Spradlin describes living conditions during the war as rough and challenging. He says he and his fellow soldiers slept outside, often in freezing temperatures.
       "You sleep in a hole in the ground. You get a bath every 30 days and clean clothes every 30 days and you sleep in a hole if you sleep at all because you're fighting, shooting, and walking. And you don't ride, you walk."
        But while his brave act of patriotism was traumatizing, Spradlin says the experience also gave him a new perspective of the world.
      “You wouldn’t take anything for your experience but you wouldn’t go through with it again for a million dollars. It changes your outlook on life. If you have any idea what I went through. It’s an experience you’ll never forget.”
      Congratulations to Scott Spradlin, this week’s Billy Johnson Community Hero.