Raymond Calvin Sprogell

PRIVATE FIRST CLASS RAYMOND CALVIN SPROGELL was killed on July 16, 1944 in Normandy, France, during the fighting to take the key city of St. Lo.  Born in 1922, he was the son of Raymond W. and S. Myrtle Higgenbotham Sprogell. His early years were spent in Gloucester City NJ. In 1930 Raymond W. Sprogell was working as an electrician. The Sprogells later lived at 64 Manor Avenue, in Oaklyn NJ. Known to family and friends as Calvin, he was a 1942 graduate of Collingswood High School. 

Raymond Calvin Sprogell worked for the Utility Electric Company in Philadelphia prior to being called to service on December 5, 1942. He was sent from Fort Dix to Fort Jackson SC, where he served for sixteen months. He spent a few weeks at Camp Atterbury IN, then was again re-assigned, this time to Camp Meade MD. Private First Class Sprogell was sent overseas in May of 1944.

Private First Class Sprogell landed in France with the 29th Infantry Division on D-Day, June 6, 1944. A machine-gunner, he was reported as missing in action on July 16, 1944 near St. Lo. He was later determined to have been killed in action, and his death was reported in the September 11, 1944 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. He was 22 years old at the time of his death.

Raymond Sprogell was brought home aboard the USAT Eric G. Gibson to New Jersey in January of 1948. Funeral services were held at the Joseph Murray and Son Funeral Home at 408 Cooper Street in Camden on February 21, 1948, and he was buried at New St. Mary's Cemetery in Bellmawr NJ, next to his grandfather, Michael Curley. He was survived by his parents, of the Oaklyn address, and his grandmother, Mrs. Lily Curley, of Gloucester City NJ.

February 19, 1948

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