Joe Clinton Spencer was born 19 Nov 1925 in Tonganoxie, Leavenworth County, Kansas to Joseph Thomas (1899-1977) and Carrie nee Pickens (1902-1982) Spencer. The family farmed. Joe was the third of five children; his siblings were: Marvin, Bonnie, Lloyd and James.

Records can only confirm Joe completed eight grades of school. He did farm labor. When he registered for the draft on 19 Nov 1943 he was working at the National Battery Factory in Leavenworth. He entered Army active duty the next month, 7 Dec 1943 from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was assigned to the 746th Railway Operating Battalion (R.O.B.), it could not be found to what company he was assigned.

All the Railway Operating Battalions were built from men who worked different railway lines before coming into the service, although this does NOT seem to be the case with PFC Spencer.

The 746th R.O.B arose from Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad and activated 4 May 1944. The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (reporting mark MKT) was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad; today, it is part of UP.

Wikipedia article:

“Each railway operating battalion was established with four companies. The Headquarters Company was used for signaling, dispatching, and supplying the battalion's section of the railway. The A Company was set up to handle the maintenance of tracks, the B Company handled the maintenance of the rolling stock, and the C Company was set up with roughly 50 men to operate the trains in their area. Grand Divisions were established with multiple operating battalions, a shop battalion, and a base depot company. The shop battalion worked on the engines themselves. During the war, there were two types of shop battalions, steam and diesel; most were steam battalions.

“By 1942, the first units started to be shipped out…The 1st and 2nd Military Railway Service (MRS) controlled supply by rail in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). The 1st was assigned to the Mediterranean with Italy, North Africa, and southern France as its main areas of operations. The 2nd was assigned to Northern France and Germany.

“While in Germany on occupation duties the 746th ROB was servicing the Munich area until it was inactivated Feb, 1946.”

It was on 25 Nov 1945 when PFC Joe Spencer was killed in a non-battle event most likely in Germany. Details of exactly what happened could not be located. He was six days past his 20th birthday. He is buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery, St Avold, France; Plot A, Row 15, Grave 41.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org) written by Norene Allen. This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ US WWII fallen on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Together We Served and Fold3/Find a Grave have smartphone apps that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery and read these stories of the WWII fallen. SBTSProject/Kansas/Wyandotte.

If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please email feedback@storiesbehindthestars.org.

Sources

Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56661102/joe-clinton-spencer

1930 census: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/33121874:6224

1940 census: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/59105306:2442?tid=&pid=&queryId=6fb7c9620436344e82df676723254bb9&_phsrc=Koj13&_phstart=successSource

Draft card: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/25072822:2238

Headstone and internment on foreign soil: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/53795:9170

American battle monument; https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/spencer=joe

Spencer, Joe Clinton