Spadaro and a friend enlisted together in the Marine Corps in September 1966. The 1965 Cardinal Dougherty High School graduate always dreamed about being a Marine and felt he was doing the right thing joining up, his father said. Spadaro trained to be a machine gunner. In February 1967, he was sent to Vietnam with members of the 1st Marine Division and assigned to Company C of the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. The 19-year-old lance corporal died in Quang Nam Province on July 30, 1967. He was survived by his parents and a sister.