Ernest Spencer was a runaway from an Indian boarding school who went on to become a decorated U.S. Marine in World War I.
Ernest was Yakama.
Pvt Ernest Spencer served in the United States Marine Corps in World War I Service started: 1917 Unit(s): Eighty-First Company, Sixth Machine-Gun Battalion, Sixth Regiment (Marines), 2d Division Service ended: 1919
Pvt Ernest Spencer was Wounded in Action during World War I.
Ernest Spencer was one of 11 children of Chief Lancaster Spencer and Sarah French. Grandson of Chief William Lancaster and Sarah Spencer. He married Verna Locke in 1927. [1] Ernest remarried in 1941 to his second wife, Martha Smartlowit [2]
At age 17, Spencer refused to return to the boarding school at Fort Simcoe where many Indian children were forced to attend. The school was designed to "educate" the Indian traditions and cultures out of the children in an attempt to "civilize" them to the American mainstream culture.
In 1916, instead of returning to the boarding school, Spencer fled to Canada to join the Canadian armed forces. When he became old enough to enlist in the United States military, which was a year later, he came back to the United States and enlisted in the US Marines. He reported for basic training at Mare Island, California on May 1, 1917. Spencer was the first Yakama Indian to enlist. His brother, Lester, enlisted and was serving in heavy artillery in Hawaii. The United States had already declared war on Germany in April 1917 and joined the Allied Forces in Europe.
After his Marine basic and advanced training, he sailed for France in May 1918, arriving June 8, and was sent to the front as a machine gunner. He was wounded twice while in action in France and survived a gas attack on his unit. At Thiancourt, France, Spencer volunteered to serve as a messenger, carrying messages under fire from enemy machine guns and artillery. Couriers were a more reliable and efficient way to carry information to the front lines vs telephones and telegraphs that could easily be intercepted.
Distinguished Service Cross
Silver Star
Spencer’s actions as a messenger would earn him the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Service Cross and a Silver Star. He also received a Croix de Guerre from France, as well as a division citation and a Good Conduct Medal.
Navy Cross Citation
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Private Ernest Spencer (MCSN: 85496), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving with the Eighty-First Company, Sixth Machine-Gun Battalion, Sixth Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F., in action near Thiaucourt, France, September 12 - 15, 1918. Private Spencer repeatedly volunteered and carried messages through intense machine-gun and artillery fire, obtaining valuable information at critical moments.[3]
Ernest arrived on the ship SANTA PAULA on 4 August 1919 in Hoboken, New Jersey having departed from Brest, France on 24 July 1919[4]
Yakama Indian gets D S C
Battles Paticipated:
Chateau-Thierry
Aisne-Marne
Marbache
St. Mihel
Meuse-Argonne
The capture of Blanc Mount and St. Etienne.
"YAKIMA INDIAN GETS D. S. C. 104 Ernest Spencer 1as the First of His Tribesmen to Enlist. TÁKIKA, Wash., Feb. S.Ernest Spencer. Toppenisti, wilco has been awarded the distinguished service cross, is a Yakima Indian, a member of the famous Spencer family. The youth. a son Lancaster Spencer, was the first Yakima Indian to enlist, joining the marinee as soon as he could qualifying age. He is the second Yakima county youth to be awarded a distinguished serviee cross and both live in Toppenish, the first awarded going to Ralph Ethier. a son of the mayor of the town."[5]
Pvt Ernest Spencer died on 03 Jan 1980 in Yakima, Washington, United States [6]
He is buried in Reservation Community Memorial Park, Wapato, Yakima County, Washington, USA [7]
Fact: Residence (1900) Yakama Indian Reservation, Yakima, Washington, United States
Fact: Residence (1910) Toppenish, Yakima, Washington, United States
Fact: Military Service (from 1917 to 1919) US Marine Corps Europe
Fact: Residence (1920) Toppenish, Yakima, Washington, United States
Fact: Residence (1935) Yakima, Washington, United States
Fact: Residence (1940) Election Precinct 110 White Swan, Yakima, Washington, United States
Fact: Residence (3 January 1980) White Swan, Yakima, Washington, United States
Fact: Burial (January 1980) Reservation Community Memorial Park, Wapato, Yakima, Washington, United States
Fact: Military Service St. Louis, Missouri, United States
↑Passenger List:
"U.S., Army Transport Service Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1910-1939"
The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 302 Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 61174 #6723692 (accessed 26 April 2022)
Name: Ernest Spencer; Departure Date: 24 Jul 1919; Departure Place: Brest, France; Arrival Date: 4 Aug 1919; Arrival Place: Hoboken, New Jersey; Residence Place: General Delivery, Toppenish, Washington; Mother: Sarah Spencer; Ship: SANTA PAULA; Military Unit: CO "D" 6TH M.G BN; Rank: PVT 1CL USMC; Service Number: 88, 292; Notes: COMPANY "D" 6TH MACHINE GUN BATTALION UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS.
↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36793278/ernest-spencer : accessed 25 April 2022), memorial page for PVT Ernest Spencer (21 Feb 1897–3 Jan 1980), Find a Grave Memorial ID 36793278, citing Reservation Community Memorial Park, Wapato, Yakima County, Washington, USA ; Maintained by Lynn Briggs (contributor 47076371) .
"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGJF-C3H : accessed 24 April 2022), Earnest Spencer in household of Lancaster Spencer, Toppenish, Yakima, Washington, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 302, sheet 2A, family 13, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1675; FHL microfilm 1,375,688.
"Washington, Native American, Census Records, 1880-1952," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLXQ-Z5FZ : 25 August 2019), Ernest Spencer in household of Lancaster Spencer, [REFERENCE-ERROR]; citing Census, NARA microfilm publication M595 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.)
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