07/04/2021
Lt. Col. Ronald Speirs, one of the toughest soldiers in Easy Company (Band of Brothers)
was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, April 20, 1920.
His family moved to Boston, Mass, when he was 7. He enlisted in 1942 & trained as a paratrooper, becoming a platoon leader in Dog company and later company commander of Easy Company, both of 506th PIR, 101st Airborne.
In January 1945, when Easy Company's initial attack on the German-occupied town of Foy bogged down due to the commander 1st Lieutenant Norman D**e, being wounded, battalion executive officer Captain Richard Winters ordered Speirs to relieve D**e of command. The selection of Speirs was incidental; Winters later stated that Speirs was simply the first officer he saw when he turned around. Speirs successfully took over the assault and led Easy Company to victory. During this battle, Lt. D**e had ordered a platoon to go on a flanking mission around the rear of the town. To countermand this order, Speirs himself ran through the town and German lines (as this platoon had no radio), linked up with the Item Company soldiers and relayed the order.
Having completed this, he then ran back through the German-occupied town. He was reassigned as commanding officer of Easy Company and remained in that position for the rest of the war. Of the officers who commanded Easy Company during the war, Speirs commanded the longest.
The citation for the Silver Star Medal for actions in The Netherlands reads:
"First Lieutenant Ronald C. Speirs, Parachute Infantry. While serving with the Army of the United States, distinguished himself by gallantry in action.
On 10 Oct 1944, in the vicinity of Randwijk, Holland, he was assigned the mission of leading a patrol to the bank of the Neder Rijn River to determine enemy activity across the river. He reached the river bank with his patrol in the early hours of the morning & spent the entire day observing across the river. After dark he voluntarily swam to the opposite bank alone where he found himself in unknown enemy territory.
He located an enemy machine gun nest, an enemy HQ, & other enemy activity near the town of Wageningen. He secured a rubber boat left by the enemy & returned to the friendly side of the river with this information. While returning to his own lines, he was wounded by fire from an enemy machine gun. Lt Speirs was the first to cross the Neder Rijn River in this vicinity, & in doing so he paved the way for other patrols to make similar reconnaissances. The information obtained proved of great value to his unit. His actions were in accordance with the highest standards of the military service."
Winters assessed Speirs as being one of the finest combat officers in the battalion. He wrote in his memoirs that Speirs had worked hard to earn a reputation as a killer and had often killed for shock value. Winters stated that Speirs was alleged on one occasion to have killed six German prisoners of war with a Thompson submachine gun and that the battalion leadership must have been aware of the allegations, but chose to ignore the charges because of the pressing need to retain qualified combat leaders.
Winters concluded that in today's army, Speirs would have been court-martialed and charged with atrocities, but at the time officers like Speirs were too valuable because they were not afraid to engage the enemy.
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.
Speirs served in Korea, as a major commanding a rifle company and as a staff officer. He later became the American governor for Spandau Prison in Berlin. He retired as a lieutenant colonel.
Speirs was portrayed by Matthew Settle in Band of Brothers. Ronald Speirs passed away in 2007.
Colourised PIECE of JAKE
Photo courtesy and Copyright ©www.ronaldspeirs.com
