Noted veterans advocate Spierer dies

Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004 | 8:57 a.m.

When Stan Spierer hit the beach at Guadalcanal in August 1942, he was an 18-year-old sergeant leading an untested but determined group of Marines in the first U.S. amphibious assault on Japanese-held positions in the South Pacific.

He didn't have time to philosophize about the significance of the battle in the largest of the Solomon Islands that would turn the tide of World War II. And he long had mixed emotions about his participation in the historic attack.

"You couldn't have paid me a million dollars to have missed it, but you couldn't pay me $10 million to go through it again," Spierer told the Sun in an Aug. 8, 1991, story.

A few days after the invasion, Spierer was hit by enemy gunfire and lost a leg.

Stanley J. Spierer, a decorated war hero who long stood as a face of Southern Nevada veterans for both his patriotic pride and his struggles to obtain what he claimed were unfairly denied VA medical benefits, died Sunday. He was 80.

Services for the North Las Vegas resident of 24 years will be 11 a.m. Friday at King David Memorial Chapel and Cemetery, 2697 Eldorado Lane. Visitation will be 9 a.m. until shortly before 11 a.m. at that site. Graveside services will be 1:20 p.m. Friday at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

The irony that Spierer's obituary is running in a Veterans Day edition of a newspaper was not lost on his friends.

"This is exactly the way Stan would have wanted it," said Ed Gobel, director of the Gobel-Lowden Veterans Museum in Las Vegas where Spierer's World War II uniform is on display in an exhibit honoring Marines. "I'm sure he's smiling down on that.

"Stan was a great American and he was a brave Marine who made great sacrifices for his country. As a veteran he helped the Jewish War Veterans, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 34 and was a delegate for a number of years to the Council of Nevada Veterans Organizations."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who helped Spierer obtain previously denied VA benefits, called him "an extraordinary veteran, an outstanding human being and a wonderful friend."

"He was a great patriot who loved his country and his family," said Berkeley, who was in Israel Wednesday when she was informed of Spierer's death. "He devoted his life to helping other veterans. He was an inspiration to everyone who met him."

Spierer's trademark over the last two decades was his motorized wheelchair that he decorated with war emblems and American flags.

He often rode the scooter-like device in Veterans Day Parades and handed out miniatures of Old Glory to children in the crowd.

In 1991 Spierer said in an interview that he was scared when his leg was shot up, but that his military training had prepared him for that situation. He said, however, he was not ready for service-related problems that followed him long into civilian life.

"What I was not prepared for was the years of trouble I would have dealing with the VA (health care) system," Spierer said of benefits denied, including compensation for part of the shrapnel in his back that he said the VA had ruled was non-service connected.

Spier's decorations included the Silver Star and Purple Heart.

Born March 31, 1924, in the Bronx, N.Y., Spierer was a retired marketing director for a health maintenance organization.

He was a former Nevada and California state commander of the Jewish War Veterans and Disabled American Veterans and a member of the American Legion and VFW.

Spierer also was a member of the Marine Corps League of Las Vegas and its Leatherneck Club, the Order of the Purple Heart, Military Order of the Trench Rats and Cooties. He was an Eagle Scout and a member of the Governor's Advisory Board of Veteran's Affairs for Nevada.

Spierer is survived by his wife, Joan Spierer of North Las Vegas; three sons, Jon Spierer of North Las Vegas, Fred Spierer of Henderson and Chris Spierer of Las Vegas; one brother, Arthur Spierer of Fresno, Calif.; 10 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

The family said donations can be made to the Nathan Adelson Hospice, 4141 S. Swenson St., Las Vegas, NV 89119.