John M. Spalding

For other people named John Spalding, see John Spalding (disambiguation).

John M. Spalding
Birth name	John Martin Spalding Sr.
Born	17 December 1914
Died	6 November 1959 (aged 45)
Allegiance	United States
Service / branch	United States Army
Unit	1st Infantry Division
Battles / wars	World War II Invasion of Normandy
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross
Other work	Kentucky state politician

John Martin Spalding Sr. (often misspelled Spaulding in official Army reports) (December 17, 1914 – November 6, 1959) was an officer in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division during World War II.

May 2021, Gravemarker in Owensboro, KY

Biography

Spalding was a native of Owensboro, Kentucky. He is famous as one of the first officers (a lieutenant at the time for E Company, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry) to make it up to the top of bloody Omaha Beach and clear out German defenses from behind. He and his men, including his sergeant, Philip Streczyk, helped make the breakthrough there on D-Day possible. His platoon landed on the Easy Red sector, and made it to the seawall largely intact, unlike most in the first wave. Instead of attacking up the beach exits, as was planned, he instead helped find and clear a path up the mined bluffs, right of Exit E-1. Once at the top, his team was the first to attack the enemy fortifications from the rear, clearing out trenches and pillboxes along Exit E-1. Later on D-Day he was involved in actions further inland at Colleville-sur-Mer. For his actions on D-Day, he was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. After the war, he returned there and served in the Kentucky House of Representatives as a Democrat. He was later murdered by his wife Mary Christine Spalding.

References

• D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II, Stephen Ambrose, Simon & Schuster, 1994, ISBN 0-684-80137-X

Messenger-Inquirer, 6 November 1959, Page 1. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/messenger-inquirer/111227882/ : accessed 6 June 2024), clip page by user sethwoodward

External links

• Cross-Channel Attack a publication of the United States Army Center of Military History
• Omaha Beachhead Archived 2009-06-22 at the Wayback Machine a publication of the United States Army Center of Military History
• Spalding's Interview from warchronicle.com