Spade Family American Military Veterans (77)
Spade Family American Military Veterans (77)
"I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic...." If you have said these words as part of your oath of allegiance into one of the branches of the American armed forces, Thank You.

Welcome to our Spade Family in America web page honoring our (deceased) descendants and the spouses of Spade descendants of Anton and Rosina Dorothea (Wolf) Spade who have served the United States in our armed forces. Spade family descendants have honorably and courageously served in the military from the Civil War to the present.

This family will NEVER FORGET the sacrifices and patriotism demonstrated by our sons and daughters--either active, guard or reserves--and their immediate families. We thank you now and forever for keeping America free. You are our heroes and are an enduring example for all Americans. If you are a family member and would like to learn more about your family genealogy, have some information changed or added about your Veteran, or if you have one of our highly sought after missing Veteran photographs, please email us at txauthor@yahoo.com "Click" on this white-lettered title "Spade Family in America" to visit our Web Site and please sign our Guestbook.

NOTE: Even if we have no photograph, there is still information about this Veteran in the photo caption. Click on the "thumbnail" photo on the right to highlight their photo/detail below. Click on the "View Full-Size Image" link for a larger photo. To save a copy of the Full-Size photo on your hard drive, right click your mouse and select "Save Picture as" and click "Save." Women Veterans are listed by their Maiden name.

Salkeld, Robert Elton
(1919 - 1977) 
 
T Sergeant Robert Salkeld served our country during WWII, volunteering for service on January 5,1942 in Harrisburg, PA. The United States Army transferred him to what was then the secret and elite First Special Service Force. The unit was a joint U.S. and Canadian effort that trained at Fort William Henry Harrison outside of Helena, Montana. It was commanded by Lt Col Robert Frederick. According to Wikipedia and Robert, they served in the Aleutian islands in August 1943. After crossing the Atlantic, the unit was initially part of “5th army” under General Mark Clarke in French Morocco. The other major campaigns involved battle in Naples with the 36th infantry division, then Anzio, followed by Rome-Arno 1943–1944, Southern France (Alpes-Maritimes) campaign in 1944, and the Rhineland campaign in 1944. Other actions are listed on Wikipedia.

A movie about them entitled “The Devil’s Brigade” starring William Holden tells part of their story. The TV documentary “Daring raids” tells about the unit’s assault of Monte La Difensa. The Germans called them the “Black Devils” due to their stealthy and effective nighttime use of their unusual double edged V42 stiletto knives… while their faces were camouflaged with black boot polish. The unit was disbanded in Dec 1944. It appears that Robert was then transferred to HQ 82 airborne and then the SVC Co, Det#1 508th airborne parachute infantry unit. His name is listed on both the 508th and “First Special Service Force” webpages.

He was awarded two Purple Hearts as a result of his injuries. One was for a shrapnel leg wound. The other wound involved shrapnel in his head behind his right eye. Field surgery was performed with a local anesthetic. The surgeons actually had to pulled one of his eyeballs out and lay it on his cheek to reach the shrapnel. He told his sister he could see in two directions, at the same time, during the operation. The surgeons did what he/they could, but he eventually went blind in his right eye.

Much more info about the unit is available on Wikipedia under “First Special Service Force.”

An entirely different unit trained in the United Kingdom for a similar purpose and was nicknamed “Darby’s Rangers”. A movie about them, by that name, was made starring James Garner. The two units were separate and distinct.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment