Spencer Ball Akin (13 February 1889 in Mississippi – 6 October 1973 in Loudoun County) was an American Chief Signal Officer in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. He also was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross which was awarded for having distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy in circumstances which do not justify the award of the Medal of Honor. He retired as a Major General in March 1951.
Awards[]
- Distinguished Service Cross in 1942 as Brigadier General and Chief signal officer
- Army Distinguished Service Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster
- Silver Star Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster
- Legion of Merit
- Air Medal
- World War I Victory Medal
- Army of Occupation of Germany Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 3 Campaign stars
- World War II Victory Medal
- Army of Occupation Medal
- National Defense Service Medal
- Korean Service Medal
- Philippine Defense Medal
- Philippine Liberation Medal
- Philippine Independence Medal
Sources[]
- http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/02_DSC/citatons/03_wwii-dsc/army_a.html listed as Spencer Bell Akin
- http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=100008
- http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=21835
- https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/view/Military.aspx?tid=6905837&pid=481700585&vid=d99aedd8-6b76-4151-a1a9-28c0a688524c
- https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9082905
- http://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/08/archives/spencer-akin-84-retired-general-army-chief-signal-officer.html?_r=0
- https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=SBVTimeLine&type=Person&ID=259322
The original article can be found at Spencer B. Akin and the edit history here.