Nova Scotia Casualties

Wartime Heritage ASSOCIATION

Name: Donald Bamford Spence Rank: Private First Class Service Number: 51068921 Service: Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 40th Infantry Division, US Army Awards: Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Korean Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Republic of Korea War Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, Purple Heart Date of Birth: March 5, 1927 Place of Birth: Springhill, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Date of enlistment: October 30, 1950 Age at enlistment: 23 Date of Death: March 2, 1952 Age: 24 Cemetery: Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York Grave: Section N, Site 30647 Donald Bamford Spence was the son of Harmon Thomas Spence (1894-1959) and Mary Scott Anderson Spence (1895-1965). Some files record his middle name as Banford. His mother was born in Borrowstounness (Bo'ness), Linlithgowshire (known as West Lothian since 1925), in Scotland. His father was born in Springhill, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. Donald’s maternal grandfather John Findlay Spence (1872-1949) served in the British Army during the First World War. Donald had twelve siblings - Helen Spence (1913–1990), Evelyn Esther Spence (1916–1987), Maurietta Eunice Spence (1917–1978), Harmon Thomas Spence Jr. (1918–1992), Frances Louise Spence (1921–1921), Mona Marie Spence (1922–2015), John William (Jackie) Spence (1924–1966), Alvin Leland (Mickey) Spence (1926–1989), Ernest Spence (1929–1930), Kenneth Spence (1931–2015), Ernest Richard Spence (1932–2010), and Robert Alexander Spence (1934–2010). Donald immigrated to the United States some time in August of 1949 via Calais, Maine. His arrival contact in the US was his uncle Joseph E Robertson. After enlistment in October of 1950, induction in the US Army and his basic training, Donald married Carol Rosemary Stegmaier (1930-2006) of Brooklyn, New York, on December 20, 1950 at the St. John's Lutheran Church, in Lynbrook, NY while on furlough. Donald served with the 40th Infantry Division, known as the Sunshine or Sunburst Division. The Division was activated for Korea on September 1, 1950. Advance elements arrived in Japan on April 10, 1951. The Division was given the mission of defending north Honshu while training. The 40th was alerted for their move to Korea to relieve the 24th Infantry Division on December 22, 1951. On January 6, 1952, the first ship departed Japan for Korea with the first elements of the 40th Division. Three months later, on March 2, 1952, Donald was killed in action in Korea three days before his 25th birthday. He was killed in a bombing and strafing raid on an encampment that was known as petroleum alley. This period of the Korean War was known as the Second Korean Winter Campaign (from November 28, 1951 - April 30, 1952). His body was repatriated and he was interred at the Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York on May 15, 1952.