Ronald Speirs

Speirs was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 20 April 1920 to Scottish parents, Robert Craig Speirs, Jr. and Martha Agnes (McNeil) Speirs. He spent his first few years in Edinburgh. He emigrated with his family to the United States, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts, on 25 December 1924. He settled with his family in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. Speirs attended The English High School in Boston and went on to the Bentley School of Accounting and Finance in Waltham, Massachusetts, where he studied accounting. In addition to participating in compulsory Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps training in high school, Speirs attended four summer sessions of the Army-administered Citizens' Military Training Camps. At his fourth camp in 1940, he was named a cadet second lieutenant in his training company by Colonel Emery O. Beane of the 303rd Infantry, camp commandant. His completion of the four camps qualified him to apply for a commission as a second lieutenant in the Organized Reserve. ==Military service==

World War II Speirs received orders to active duty on 11 April 1942 and was assigned to the 339th Infantry Regiment, 85th Infantry Division, at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Shortly thereafter, he volunteered for the paratroopers. There he served as a platoon leader within Dog Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which later became part of the 101st Airborne Division, at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, and was then shipped to England in late 1943. After arriving in England, the division began training for the invasion of France. , December 1944/January 1945 Speirs parachuted into Normandy on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) and met up with fellow troops soon after landing. He assembled a small group of soldiers to help in the Brecourt Manor Assault; they captured the fourth 105mm howitzer. Speirs commanded 2nd platoon, Dog Company. His unit spent the night of 6 June being shuffled into position with other platoons of a company being arranged for battle early the next morning. Although Speirs had enough points to go home after the end of the European Campaign, he chose to remain with Easy Company. Japan surrendered before Speirs and Easy could be transferred to the Pacific Theater. He was awarded the Silver Star for his actions during the war, in particular in October 1944 in the aftermath of Operation Market Garden. The medal's citation read: == Cold War ==

Speirs returned to the United States and decided to remain in the Army, serving in the Korean War. On 23 March 1951, he participated in Operation Tomahawk, in which he made a combat parachute jump into Munsan-ni with nearly 3,500 other troopers in his unit (187th Regimental Combat Team). As a rifle company commander, he was part of his battalion's mission to secure the drop zone; the battalion killed or wounded 40 to 50 enemy troops. Following Korea, Speirs attended a Russian language course in 1956 and was assigned as a liaison officer to the Red Army in Potsdam, East Germany. In 1958, he became the American governor of the Spandau Prison in Berlin, where prominent Nazis such as Rudolf Hess were imprisoned. For his service from 1961 to 1964, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, with the citation reading: ==Personal life==

On 20 May 1944, Speirs married Margaret Griffiths, whom he had met while stationed in Wiltshire, England. Griffiths had been a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. They had one son, Robert, who grew up to become a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Green Jackets. The 1992 Stephen E. Ambrose book Band of Brothers claimed Speirs' English wife had left him and returned to her first husband, whom she had believed died during the war. Speirs denied this claim. In a 1992 letter to Winters, Speirs wrote that his first wife simply did not want to move to America with him and be away from her family in England. He also stated his wife was never a widow to begin with and that he had always loved her. On 11 April 2007, Speirs died suddenly in St. Marie, Montana, where he was living. == In popular culture ==

In the television miniseries Band of Brothers, he was portrayed by Matthew Settle. == See also ==