State Historical Society of Iowa

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Record1 of 1

Title:
  • Myra Spencer collection on Commander Larry H. Spencer, 1966-1979.
Summary note:
  • This collection contains 8 scrapbooks (1966-1979) assembled by Myra Spencer to document: media coverage about her Vietnam POW son Comdr. Larry H. Spencer; her activities to raise awareness about POW/MIA issues; military, government, and community response to her situation as mother of a POW; and special events following her son's release in February 1973. Contents include military communications (including the first telegrams received about Lt. Comdr. Spencer's status), letters from political figures including President Richard Nixon and Iowa Governor Robert Ray, news clippings, ephemera related to POW issues and events, and photographs. The first volume of the series begins with Mrs. Spencer's summary of her experience as a mother of a POW and her motivation for compiling these records. Additional scrapbooks compiled by Myra Spencer can be found in the Iowans Care for Prisoners of War and Missing in Action, Inc. records also maintained in the State Historical Society of Iowa's manuscripts collection.
Source of Acquisition:
  • Donated by Commander Larry H. Spencer, 2010.
Biographical/Historical note:
  • Myra Spencer of Earlham, Iowa was the mother of Commander Larry Howard Spencer, a U.S. Navy radio intercept officer assigned to Fighter Squadron 92 on the U.S.S. Enterprise during the Vietnam Conflict. Her son (then a lieutenant) became Iowa's first Vietnamese prisoner of war (POW) when his plane was shot down over the Gulf of Tonkin on February 18, 1966. In December 1969 Mrs. Spencer--a widow and employee of LOOK Magazine--was among a group of 27 women invited to the White House by President Richard Nixon to attend a conference on POWs. Shortly after, she and other conference attendees became charter members of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Souteast Asia. Myra Spencer became an activist for POW/MIA issues, gathering petitions to send to the government of North Vietnam, speaking to community groups and politicians, and assuming the role of historian for the local organization Iowans Care for Prisoners of War and Missing in Action, Inc. During this time she and her son Lee also began compiling newsclippings, correspondence, and other materials documenting her activities and the media, political, and community response to POW/MIA issues. Larry Spencer--who was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander during his imprisonment--was eventually released on February 12, 1973 as part of Operation Homecoming. Following his release he joined his mother at a series of public appearances and speaking engagements. He attended the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, CA where he received an M.S. in Operations Research in March 1976. He retired from the U.S. Navy as a Commander in December 1996.
Subject(s):
Author:
Format:
  • 8 scrapbooks (2 containers)
MARC Values:

State Historical Society of Iowa

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