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2 GREAT IDECORATION GIVENYOUTHFUL TARFOR RRAVERYWearer of “Gob” Uniform Rates CroixDe GuerreHe wears a white uniform with no distinctive marks upon it.. He hopes some day to wear an aviation officer’s uniform with it bands of gold about the cuffs. Meanwhile he studies and works as do the other men at the Student Officer’s School in Aviation ground work, who are unaware of the fact that their fellow student has a right to wear a mark that hundreds of men at Great Lakes would give most anything to possess.Though he has the privilege of wearing the colors of the Croix de Guerre, which was awarded him by America’s ally for bravery under fire, he modestly goes about his work, embarrased if mention is made of the honors he won.His name is Frederick Spencer and he is a son of Earl W. Spencer, Chicago broker, and he comes from a highly patriotic family, the sons and daughter of which have all given themselves to the cause of liberty.Brother Killed In Action%His brother Dumaresq joined the Lafayette Escadrille and was killed in action, while another brother, Captain Egbert H. Spencer, is with the Eigthty-sixth division at Camp Grant, and an aid to Major General Martin commanding officer of the division. Lieutenant Commander Earl W. Spencer, in charge of the Naval Aviation school, San Diego, California is another brother..A sister, Gladys, is a Red Cross nurse in France while another, Ethel, is studying surgical reconstruction work preparatory to going to France to help build up the torn bodies of the wounded soldiers.Spencer’s mother, is one of the most prominent of Highland Park war workers and gives all of each Thursday as a volunteer in the Y. W. C. A. Hostess House on the Main Station.Went To Drive AmbulanceThe youngest Spencer was chosen in May, 1917, because of his knowledge of gas engines, to drive in France the ambulance purchased by the Exmoore Country Club, Chicago. Spencer arrived in France but the ambulance failed to materialize. There he was with nothing to do and ptospects of returning him to America facing him.He was determined to help in the great struggle and through the efforts of his sister, who was nursing in Paris, he was enlisted in the American Red Cross Field Service as an ambulance driver.It was at Chemin des Dames that he whirled his ambulance with its precious load through a hail of shrapnel and passed the lines of the Germans, who were but 50 feet away, causing him to be recommended for decoration. He was honorably discharged last December because of his youthfulness.Germans Welcome CaptivitySpencer says that most of the wounded Germans he carried were glad to be captured. He says that in spite of the wild tales spread by the Huns that the Americans tortured their prisoners the word had crept through the ranks of the Germans that life was much more endurable with the Americans as captives than under the Prussian military heel.The extreme youth and childlike simplicity of the captured Germans made a decided impression on Spencer, who is anxious to get back into the thick of the battle instead of returning to his school books.1(c((vt.0roPt;ishSr:GVvd;O]rrbiwelt;IV]tlblt;tibili:NisoitliUuifahem
Newspaper Details
Great Lakes Bulletin
Great Lakes, Illinois, US
Mon, Aug 12, 1918
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Jo Y.
VA, USA 21 Jun 2022
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Great Lakes Bulletin
