Channel 5 honors former Norwood resident Billy Spencer killed in Iraq

Andrew Clark with the Norwood Star alerted us that Channel 5 did a Veterans Day special yesterday on Marine Lance Cpl. Billy Spencer who was killed in Iraq in 2006. Andrew said he and Billy attended Norwood High School together until the 10th grade when Billy’s family moved from Norwood, and he thought some of our other readers would remember Billy, too.

Billy Spencer joined the Marines in January, 2006, but what his family didn’t know at the time was that their son had a video camera and was documenting his tour up until December 28, 2006 when he was hit by enemy fire trying to save his squad. Some of Billy’s fellow Marines downloaded the videos from his computer and gave them to the family before the government could erase them. Channel 5 has posted 7 short clips from the video diary on their website. For his bravery in the line of duty, Lance Cpl. Billy Spencer was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the U.S. military’s third highest honor, last year.