Family tradition continues at USTRANSCOM

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – Kevin Spradling, chief, Civil, Transportation and International Law Division at U.S. Transportation Command administered the oath of office to his daughter, Claire, May 28.  During the ceremony, a second lieutenant bar dating back to the start of World War II was passed down to Claire.

“The second lieutenant’s bar that I presented my daughter with is the same one that was pinned on my shoulder when I was commissioned in May 1976,” Spradling said. “It is also the same bar that was pinned on my father's shoulder when he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force in 1951 by his cousin, Lewis Spradling.

“Lewis received the bar in December 1941,” Spradling continued, “when he was an enlisted man serving in the Army, stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Following Pearl Harbor, Lewis received a commission at Schofield.” 

U.S. Air Force 2^nd Lt. Claire Spradling is attending the University of Missouri School of Medicine.  Upon graduation, she plans to become an Air Force doctor.

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