Col. Cyril Branston Spicer Sr.
- Born: 21 Oct 1891, Galesburg, North Dakota
- Marriage (1): Mabel Adelaide Coble 20 Nov 1920 in Tacoma, Pierce, Washington, USA 29,30
- Marriage (2): Ruby L. Covington 11 Jan 1968 in La Marque, Galveston Co., TX 144,145
- Died: 15 Jun 1971, Abilene, Taylor, Texas, USA at age 79 47,48
- Buried: Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Arkansas
 FamilySearch ID: LLWP-B2X. Find a Grave ID: 143022628.
General Notes:
Military: Cyril was regular Army. Family tradition was that he was with Gen. Pershing when he was chasing Poncho Villa around the SouthWest in 1916. When Uncle Nathan Wauda saw him in 1946, he was a Colonel in the 4th Armored Division, of Patton's 3rd Army (?)
Listed in the Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Minnesota covering the thirtieth Biennial Period Ending December 31, 1918 Volume One
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1873&path=Minnesota.1917-1918.Report+of+the+Adjutant+General+of+the+State+of+Minnesota.2&sid=&gskw=)
Page 204 Rank 1st Lt., Company H, Station: Mankato, Commissioned or Enlisted: July 10, 1917.
From a Blue Earth County yearbook of WW1 veterans that Dorothy Ralston sent: enlisted in Co. H., 2nd Minnesota in 1909; saw Mexican Border Service in 1916; First Lieutenant Sept 27, 1917 with Co. H. stationed for a year at Camp Cody, NM. Attended school for Machine Gunnery at Fort Sill, OK. Sailed overseas Oct. 11, 1918 from Camp Dix, NJ. Stationed with the Army of Occupation at Coblenz, Germany. Returned to the US in August of 1919.
WWI: See The Fifty-Eighth Infantry in the world war. 1917-1918-1919 available online as a reprint from the University of Michigan Library at bookprep.com/read/mdp.39015027341422
Captain Cyril B.Spicer is listed in the introduction as member of the 58th Infantry History Association which published the book, which is undated. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000403262
While he, wife and son are in Puerto Rico in 1930 per the census there, by November of 1930 he is back in Minnesota. (Star-Tribune, 1 November 1930, page 24 noted that he is visiting his brother Mr. J. O. Spicer of 3938 Thirty-eighth Ave south, Minneapolis.- A typo. That was dad's adress in the 1930 city directory of Minneapolis.(image 724).)He is noted in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune 26 March 1934 winning an indoor polo competition.
In 1932 he became the new company commander of the Third Infantry (Star-Trib, 15 Aug 1932, page 6)
He is listed in the Appendix "B", the Roster of the Regiment (page 245) as a 1st Lieutenant with Company "C" on the date of their arrival in the United States, August 1, 1919.
He was probably part of the replacement troops that joined the regiment the time of the Armistice of Nov 11, 1918 although this is supposition based on the Blue Earth County yearbook which states that he sailed overseas on October 11, 1918. "During the evening of November 11th, 705 replacement troops were received and assigned to companies." (Page 124) In the Roll of Honor (Appendix "A", page 164) the 1st Lt. of company "C" is listed as Killed in Action and another 1st. Lt. is listed as Wounded in Action.
Chapters VI, VII and VIII detail the march into Germany and the Occupation of Germany up until the time that the regiment consisting of 110 officers and 2979 enlisted men sailed for America on July 23rd on the steamship USS Mt. Vernon. (Page 160).
The only mention of Company "C" of the 1st Battlion during this Occupation phase is that it was quartered in the Falkenstein Kaserne (sic) (Falckenstein-Kaserne) near the railroad bridge across the Coblenz-Lutzel. Kaserne is German for barracks and these barracks are still standing and used. There are several reverences to the Machine Gun Company, but it is not known from this book whether he was assigned to that company or not but he is defiantly listed as the 1st Lt. of Company "C" in the roster of returning troops, and not in the Machine Gun Company.
Research Notes:
His obituary names survivors: wife, one son Cyril B. Spicer, Jr. of Reno, NV, one daughter, Mrs. C.R. Still of Raleigh, N.C., two brothers (William and Harold), six grandchildren, three stepchildren, Louis Bellview of Baton Rouge, LA, Billy Bellview of Texas City, Mrs. Louise Ledge of Artesia, N.M.
Unkown as to the six grandchildren.
Events
• residence: 113 Beach St, 1905, Mankato, Blue Earth Co., MN. 3
• residence: 313 Carroll, 1910, Mankato, Blue Earth Co., MN. 4
• residence, 11 Apr 1910, Mankato, Blue Earth Co., MN. 146 Age 18 with mother, father and brothers, Henry, Harold and William.
• Occupation: grocery clerk Draper and Pettersen, 1914, Mankato, Blue Earth Co., MN. 5 Grocers
• Military: 28th Infantry, Aug 1916, San Juan, Texas. 147 2 Minnesota Infantry Duty with Co. E August 13-17 since Aug 30/16. Sic in Hospital Brownsville, Tex. Aug. 18-29/16.
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2229/images/40169_292476-00465
• Military: Enlistment Report of the Minn Adjudant General, 10 Jul 1917, Minnesota. 148 Promoted to 1st Lt., Company H.
• residence, 12 Jan 1920, Camp Dodge, Polk, Iowa, USA. 149 Lieutenant in the U.S. Army.
Twice in the census. Mankato is dated 7th & 8th of January says "Officer US Army leaving Dodge" [for Camp Dodge?]
Camp Dodge is enumerated on the 12th.
• Military: Lieutenant with the 58th Infantry, Nov 1920, Tacoma, Pierce, Washington, USA. 150
• Education: Army Infantry School, 1922-1923, Columbus, GA. 151 https://mcoepublic.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/library/Doughboy_Yearbooks/DOUGHBOY_1923%20C1.pdf
• residence: 1044 17th, 1923, Columbus, Georgia. 36 Captain U S A
• Military: Captain in the Infantry at Detroit, 31 May 1923, Detroit, Wayne Co., MI. 152
• Military: Instructor - Captain with the 125th Infantry, Mar 1924, Detroit, Wayne Co., MI. 153 The 125th was a unit of the Michigan national guard assigned to the 32nd Division in 1921-22 headquartered in Flint, then Detroit. Inducted into Federal service Oct 1940 relieved Dec 8, 1941 from assignment to the 32d Division.
(Lineage: https://history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/inf/0125in.htm )
• Military: ordered to the 65th infantry in Puerto Rico, Jun 1927, Puerto Rico. 154
• residence, 1 Apr 1930, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 39 With Mabel A and Cyril Junior. Listed as a Captain in the U.S. Army in the census on the military base in Puerto Rico.
• Military: Major, 1 Aug 1935. 155
• Census: Jefferson Barracks, "West Louis", Missouri, 1940, Lemay, St. Louis Co., MO. 38 With wife Mabel, son Cyril Jr, daughter Betty Ann, Mother-in Law May and a housekeeper.
Also 1939 when he was identified in the Mankato paper as a pallbearer at his father's funeral as Major - of Jefferson Barracks.
• Military: Lt. Col., Inspector General's Department, 26 Jul 1940. 156
• Military: Lt. Colonel, 26 Jul 1940. 157
• residence, 25 Feb 1942, Louisville, KY. 158
• residence: 1515 19th Av, 1946, Des Moines, Polk Co., Iowa. 40 In the same house as Mabel's mother Mae (img 74)
City Directory of 1944 lists him and Mabel at this address, but likely she gave the information and named him even though he was still in Europe.
• Retirement, 31 Oct 1946. 159 Disability in Line of Duty (Acts 1 Oct. 90 AND 29 June 43)
• residence: 1515 19th, 1947, Des Moines, Polk Co., Iowa. 45 Same house as Mabel's mother, May Coble (wid Wm) (img 83) who died in September of that year.
• residence: 122 Sleepy Valley Rd, 1957, Hot Springs, Arkansas. 41
• residence: 3120 S. Independence, 1960, Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Arkansas. 44 Demonstrator, KFSA TV
• Obituary: Abilene Reporter-News, 18 Jun 1971, Abilene, Taylor, Texas, USA.
• Burial: Fort Smith National Cemetery, 1971, Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Arkansas. Find A Grave Memorial# 143022628
Headstone Inscription: "Minnesota Colonel HQ XX Corps World War I & II" + dates
• Obituary: Mankato Free Press, 29 Jun 1971, Mankato, Blue Earth Co., MN. Very short notice that he'd died in Abilene. Survived by wife. Also that he served with General Patton and was a Colonel.
(Obit in PDF recieved 11/6/2021 from the Mankato Historical society collection of clippings scanned.)
• Service Number: O6202.
Cyril married Mabel Adelaide Coble, daughter of William H. Coble and May Isabel Sheldon, 20 Nov 1920 in Tacoma, Pierce, Washington, USA 29.,30 (Mabel Adelaide Coble was born 15 Aug 1890 in Stuart, Guthrie, Iowa, USA,31,32 died 23 Dec 1961 in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas 33 and was buried 27 Dec 1961 in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Arkansas.)
• Marriage License: announced in paper, 27 Nov 1920, Tacoma, Pierce, Washington, USA. 49
Marriage Notes:
File # 2827
Source is the Galvaston County Vital Records Index online at
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/galveston/vitals/marriages/1968/galvm68b.txt
Cyril next married Ruby L. Covington, daughter of Thomas Eldridge Covington and Anna Cathrine Carden, 11 Jan 1968 in La Marque, Galveston Co., TX 144.,145 (Ruby L. Covington was born 23 Jul 1908 in Wolfe City, Hunt Co., TX 160 and died 23 Jan 1994 in Texas City, Galveston Co., TX 160,161.)
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