Army Spc. Karol was assigned to the 165th Military Intelligence, V Corps, Darmstadt, Germany. Karol was on a mission to observe enemy activity when a command detonated device exploded near Ar Ramadi. His vehicle was overturned from the force of the explosion and he was fatally injured. Spencer lived in the small town of Woodruff, just east of Holbrook, Arizona. He ran middle-distance events for the track team at Holbrook High and wanted to play soccer, but he had to baby-sit his siblings instead. He was a quiet kid who never made trouble - a good decent person. If the roof was leaking or the pipes broke, he would fix them for his mom. In four years of high school, he was absent a total of nine days and late for school only once. Bullies had picked on him when he was in high school; he didn't know anyone and was really lonely. He developed a big interest in rodeo and became an excellent roper but he always knew that he was going in the military. He planned to join the Army to make money so he could pay his way through college. He talked about that all the time from his sophomore year on. Teachers described Spencer as the kind of student you'd like to have more of, not the football stud. He earned B's and C's with a few A's mixed in, the kind of kid who didn't stand out, since he wasn't at the top and wasn't at the bottom. But then the Army happened - basic training did wonders for Spence, who was gangly and quiet when he graduated from high school. Just months after enlisting in the Army, he went back to Holbrook High to visit, 40 or 50 pounds of new muscle on his frame. He had bought a red sports car, and all the girls were like, ‘Oh wow!' Bullies had picked on him when he was in high school, but they didn't want any part of him now. After a life of anonymity, Spence had come into his own - he had become the person he always hoped to be.

NOTE: Spencer was the grandson of Hollywood actor, Guy Madison.