Corporal Spruell was a member of Battery B, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy near Hagaru, North Korea on December 6, 1950. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His remains were not recovered.

Through the work of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of Corporal John Albert Spruell were accounted for in 2023. His name is permanently inscribed on the “Courts of the Missing” at the Honolulu Memorial.