Staff Sergeant Connor served first in the US Marine Corps in 1952 after enlisting in South Orange and undergoing recruit training at Parris Island, SC. Spencer Connor served as a fire team leader and radioman in the Third Platoon, Company B., First Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division in Korea.
He had attended elementary and high schools in Orange and was born here Sept. 4, 1932.
After serving in Korea during that conflict, where he was a fire team leader and radioman in the third Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, Staff Sergeant Connor returned home safely in October 1953, as a corporal. Again serving as platoon guide, he was also assigned as a squad leader at Camp Lejeune until he was released from active duty in February 1955.
But that was not enough for a Marine who wanted to assist his country. While on inactive duty, he was with the Ready Reserve with the 4th and 1st Marine Corps Reserve and Recruitment District, as well as with the 7th Rifle Company of the Reserves at Lake Denmark in Dover, NJ.
In May 1961, when Staff Sergeant Connor was discharged from the Reserves, he re-enlisted in the regular Marine Corps and was almost immediately promoted to sergeant. Again, he was a platoon guide, this time with Casual Company, Headquarters Battalion, and with Company A, School Demonstration Troops at Quantico, Virginia’s Marine Corps Schools.
Transferred to the West Coast in July 1962, he was with the 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton when his unit was sent overseas in November 1963. They were then redesignated as Company F, Second Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division. Connor was a staff sergeant when the unit was once again sent overseas and became part of the 3rd Marine Division.
While overseas, the Marine was transferred to Company F 2nd Battalion, once again serving as Platoon Guide, later Platoon Sergeant for the first Marine Division this time in the Republic of Vietnam. It was during this tour that Staff Sgt. Connor was wounded in action, Feb. 25, 1966. He was transferred to the hospital ship the USS Repose and died aboard the ship March 8, 1966.
Sgt. Connor is one of 297 Marines who have been recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor since it was first awarded for service during the Civil War and authorized by President Abraham Lincoln in December 1861. It is the Navy and Marine designed Medal of Honor that is presented to Marines, the first military decorations formally authorized by the US government as a badge of valor. The Medal for the Army and Voluntary Forces Medal was authorized the following July, also by Lincoln, and is presented “in the name of the Congress of the United States.”
Staff Sgt. Connor is one of 57 Marines who have received the Medal for gallantry and heroism in Vietnam.
Sgt. Connor’s Medal of Honor was presented to his family posthumously by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Rose Garden at the White House, on May 2, 1967.
Sgt. Connor is buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California.
His Medal of Honor reads:
CITATION
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against enemy Viet Cong forces at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Leading his platoon on a search-and-destroy operation in an area made particularly hazardous by extensive cave and tunnel complexes, Staff Sergeant Connor maneuvered his unit aggressively forward under intermittent enemy small-arms fire. Exhibiting particular alertness and keen observation, he spotted an enemy spider hole emplacement approximately 15 meters to his front. He pulled the pin from a fragmentation grenade intending to charge the hole boldly and drop the missile into its depths. Upon pulling the pin he realized that the firing mechanism was faulty, and that even as he held the safety device firmly in place, the fuse charge was already activated. With only precious seconds to decide, he further realized that he could not cover the distance to the small opening of the spider hole in sufficient time, and that to hurl the deadly bomb in any direction would result in death or injury to some of his comrades tactically deployed near him. Manifesting extraordinary gallantry and with utter disregard for his personal safety, he chose to hold the grenade against his body in order to absorb the terrific explosion and spare his comrades. His act of extreme valor and selflessness in the face of virtually certain death, although leaving him mortally wounded, spared many of his fellow Marines from death or injury. His gallant action in giving his life in the cause of freedom reflects the highest credit upon the Marine Corps and the Armed Forces of the United States.
Other New Jersey Recipients of the Medal of Honor
