Cpl. John Albert Spruell was finally laid to rest on Sept. 3 in the Cortez Cemetery, nearly 74 years after he first left the country to serve in the Korean War.
Dozens of decorated soldiers, community members and city workers – the city of Cortez closed its offices for the event – gathered in the cemetery under the morning sun to celebrate and remember Spruell.
At the service, the eulogist quoted Psalm 30:5. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
Since Spruell was presumed dead on Dec. 6, 1950, 26,546 nights have passed.
“The morning is now!” the eulogist exclaimed.
Spruell was a junior in high school in Cortez, just 17 years old, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1949. He finished basic training in March 1950, and went for further training at Fort Lawton, Washington. When he was there, the Korean War began.
It was June 1950, and Spruell was just 19 years old.
He was first sent to Japan, then Korea. While overseas, he was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division and served in the 57th Field Artillery Battalion.
On Dec. 6 that year, he was fighting near Chosin Reservoir at Hagaru-ri, North Korea. Temperatures dipped below minus 30 F, and he was presumed dead in combat, though his remains weren’t found – until now.
Spruell’s mother, Pauline, never gave up hope that her missing son would come home.
Though he didn’t in her lifetime, they’re now reunited, in a sense: Her ashes will be buried in his casket, beside his bones.
https://youtu.be/fXPIxQpH0Xg?feature=shared“I’m glad he’s home and can rest in Cortez,” said his nephew Dennis Spruell, a member of Cortez City Council and former Montezuma County sheriff. “I didn’t know a lot about him, and my dad didn’t speak of him. But I’ve now learned a whole lot about him.”
The journey to bring him home began nearly a decade ago, when the Army was trying to identify unknown soldiers through DNA. They reached out and asked Dennis Spruell to send in a sample.
It was last August when Spruell was positively identified: 72 years, 8 months and 5 days after he went missing.
The memorial marker “Unknown X15754” in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu will be replaced with his true name.
That cemetery is also called the Punchbowl, and it’s for honoring those in the U.S. military who died or went missing in war.
It’s a bit like the Purple Heart, the oldest military award in America, given to those who are wounded or killed in battle. At the service, Spruell was awarded this honor.
“Johnny is now home – and this time, he gets a hero’s welcome,” the eulogist said.
There are still 73,000 soldiers unidentified that have yet to be brought home, said Nancy Thompson, who helps coordinate events like this one. Thompson came from Aurora for the service in Cortez.
“It’s a commitment to honor veterans we’re now finding the remains of,” said Thompson. “We do it so we can be free.”
Thompson helped with a similar event in Pueblo in June for Clifford Harley Strickland of the U.S. Army Air Forces, a WWII prisoner of war whose remains returned to America 82 years after he died.
As DNA helps identify more of these unknown soldiers, more events like this one will take place, Thompson said.
“It’s an amazing, heartwarming story,” said Vanessa Ruggles, Cpl. Spruell’s niece. “I’m so appreciative of the Army and the work they do to bring people home.”
