Bradley W. Spratt is the July 2024 Kosciusko County Veteran of the Month. Shown from left are Darryl McDowell, Kosciusko County veteran service officer; Cary Groninger, county commissioner; Linda and Bradley Spratt; and Brad Jackson and Bob Conley, county commissioners. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — The county’s Veteran of the Month for July 2024 served in Panama, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, as well as Mississippi and Florida, during his 22 years of military service.

Bradley W. Spratt was born Nov. 16, 1964, in Dixon, Ill., to Wayne and Patricia Spratt, Kosciusko County Veteran Service Officer Darryl McDowell said in presenting Spratt as the Veteran of the Month to the Kosciusko County Commissioners at their meeting Tuesday, July 16.

Spratt has two younger brothers, Brian, who lives in Silver Lake, and Mike, living in Dry Ridge, Ky.

The family moved to Indiana in 1972 where Bradley attended Silver Lake Elementary School and later graduated from Warsaw Community High School in 1983. Following graduation, he began working at Advanced Electronics in Fort Wayne as a journeyman’s apprentice before pursuing a military career.

He enlisted in the United States Army in October 1988 and was sent to Fort Sill, Okla., for his basic and advanced individual training. After completing his advanced training, he was sent to Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty, N.C., to attend Airborne School and assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 313th Military Intelligence Battalion.

In November 1989, his unit deployed to Panama in support of Operation Just Cause, followed by deployments to Saudi Arabia and Iraq in September 1990 in support of Operation Desert Storm and Shield; and then Homestead, Fla., in August 1992 in support of a humanitarian operation after Hurricane Andrew.

In October 1995, Spratt left the active-duty Army and enlisted into the Indiana Army National Guard as an infantryman (11 Bravo). During his service in the National Guard, his unit was deployed to Iraq in 2003, supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom; followed by a deployment to Gulfport, Miss., in August 2005 supporting a humanitarian operation for Hurricane Katrina; and later in 2008 back to Iraq to once again support Operation Iraqi Freedom, McDowell said.

Spratt retired in 2011 after 22 years of military service with the rank of sergeant first class (E7). He earned the Combat Infantry Badge, Parachutist Badge with the star, Meritorious Service Medals and Humanitarian Service Medals “just to mention a few, along with the myriads of other awards and accolades he received during his military career,” McDowell stated.

In addition to continuing his military service in the National Guard, he worked at Wabash Valley Manufacturing in Silver Lake as a shipping supervisor from 1996 to 2015. In 2015, he began working at Triangle Rubber and Plastics in Goshen as a production supervisor until 2020.

Today, Spratt continues to be active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Silver Lake Lions Club, Lake Township Volunteer Fire Department and the Indiana Patriot Guard.

Spratt and Linda, living in Silver Lake, have six children and six grandchildren.

After receiving his framed certificate Tuesday, Spratt said, “I want to thank everybody. It’s quite an honor. Thanks, (Commissioner) Bob (Conley), for pulling me out of the barber’s chair to get here.”

Every time he was overseas, Spratt just wanted to thank the community for their support.

“Silver Lake and Warsaw were just phenomenal. And for those that are still deployed and may deploy later, I just want to say, for them, that that is critical. You can’t do the things over there if you’re worried about what’s going on back here, and that was never a problem with this community. I appreciate the award and thanks, everybody,” Spratt said.