From the comforts of his home in Columiana Donald Leonard, a Korean War veteran, talks about his life in the service...by R. Michael Semple

COLUMBIANA — The story of 89-year-old Army veteran Donald E. Leonard began on April 4, 1932, in York, Pa.

He grew up there and was raised predominantly by his mother, a German immigrant named Margaret Lanzer, whom his father met during the U.S. occupation of Germany during World War I.

“They were married in a little Catholic church in Coblentz and he brought her back here. It was difficult for her, as she didn’t even speak English,” he said, giving all the credit to his mother for rearing nine children upon returning to America in 1921.

Only he and his sisters, Frances and Joan, survive, though he remembers each and every one of his siblings with such great affection that he insists on naming them all.

“I gave the eulogies for all the brothers and sisters, I’ve lost,” he said.

The Leonard children include:

Elsie H. Leonard Ness, born 1921, about whom Don notes “named me and changed my diapers.”

Earl J. Leonard, who enlisted in the Navy on Dec. 9, 1941, after the bombing of the naval fleet by Japanese Kamikaze pilots two days earlier at Pearl Harbor;

Esther “Sis” M.eonard, who actually falsified a statement for her younger brother Robert, so that he could enlist in the Navy with Earl;

Robert H. Leonard, who joined the Navy in late December of 1941 despite being under the legal age to do so;

Frances B. Leonard Landis who, like Don, remains active well into her 90s and with whom he continues to visit as often as possible;

Herbert H. Leonard, who enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943 and for whom Don is extremely grateful because “he helped raise me.”;

Lloyd L. Leonard, who joined the Army in 1947;

Dorothy L. Leonard, born 1934 and his youngest full sibling;

Joan Marie Palmer about whom Don says, “Mom remarried after many years and my youngest sister was not born until 1946.”

Though neither of his two daughters nor their spouses or grandchildren followed in Leonard’s military footsteps, he is proud to point out that he, his dad and all of his male siblings all served and the family was represented in World War I, World War II and Korea.

Everyone returned home safely and retired without incident.

And although his father was not very involved in his upbringing, “Dunnie,” as his friends and family referred to him, said his mother sacrificed greatly to ensure her children were well fed, clothed and loved.

But Margaret, a fervent Christian, also “made sure we all went to church every Sunday.”

“We were poor but didn’t know it. We traded food stamps and didn’t have much meat. Mom had only a wood stove for cooking and would kill a chicken every week. We had hot chocolate and a hot breakfast waiting for us every morning,” he remembers of his modest but happy childhood.

Drafted, or what he refers to as being inducted, into the Army on Jan 20, 1953, at Fort Meade, Maryland, his orders then led him to Fort Knox, Kentucky.

“We had to learn to be tank drivers but were also made to take eight weeks of basic training followed by eight weeks of infantry / foot soldier training because you’re only a tanker as long as the tank is running; then you become a foot soldier,” he said with a laugh.

In 1954, Leonard, who had been assigned as the intermittent mess sergeant of Camp Irwin, Calif., as an Army private found himself in a unique stopover situation on his way to Korea.

His original orders were to report to Camp Irwin. So, off he went, met in California by the woman he married on Veterans Day in 1949, Jacqueline “Jackie” Snyder (his sweetheart at William Penn Senior High School) while working for the York Hoover Corp., where he made truck bodies for 50 cents an hour.

He and Jackie headed west, both absolutely convinced he’d be overseas soon.

“I remember seeing a big sign that read: ‘Welcome to Camp Irwin, next stop Korea.'”

“When the new mess sergeant arrived, I became assistant mess sergeant and ordered all the rations six months in advance. There were 200 men in our company. I stayed there until November 1954, then became mess sergeant and ultimately was promoted to staff sergeant within two years.”

“I was in middle of training with 2,000 troops and the sergeant said ‘all married men step forward.’ The four tankers were told we were becoming cooks.”

Leonard remembers feeling a tremendous sense of relief first because “The mess hall had air conditioning but more importantly, it saved me from going to Korea.”

Cooking, however, wasn’t necessarily his forte.

“I was studying in my school shop class as an apprentice cabinet maker, sanding wood for caskets, so I worked for the burial casket division of York Casket beginning in October of 1948 as part of a work / school program.”

The company is a now a wholly owned subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based Matthews International Corp. But back in the Golden State, chowtime changed the course of history, at least for the Leonards.

Being mess hall sergeant was just meant as a “layover” detour of his original orders to serve a tour of duty in Korea as a tank operator. After all, that’s what he’d been trained for.

Luckily for him, Jackie and baby Deborah, who was born at the Army hospital at Camp Irwin where they lived in an Army trailer, he was officially discharged on Jan. 19, 1955.

“I was thinking I’d get called back for Vietnam, but never did,” said Leonard, who retired as a staff sergeant.

Leonard served from 1953-55 in active duty during the Korean War Era and four in the U.S. Army Reserve afterward.

After a rocky drive back to York that included car trouble during a sandstorm and help from a stranger on the road, the young family finally returned home where they were blessed with a second daughter Renee, who was born in Columbiana.

“I had been sent here as a salesman to call on funeral homes,” he explained, noting he’d resumed work at York Casket Co.

With the blessing and loan from the parent company that bought the business, Leonard and five fellow salesmen founded their own distribution arm of the corporation known as Yorktowne Caskets.

Leonard worked there for 49 years, retiring after a heart attack scare in 1997 forced him to finally slow down after a lifetime of hard work that saw the traveling owner/salesman logging 40,000 miles per year calling on funeral homes.

Now enjoying spending all his free time consulting for his real estate company, reading and eating Chick-fil-A, he and Jackie’s shared favorite pastime is attending events for the nine great-grandchildren — a combined brood of his three grandchildren.

“You’re there more for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren than your own kids because you have more time; almost everyone is nearby, and we try to go to all their games, shows, whatever,” Leonard said.

A lifelong member of American Legion Benjamin Firestone Post 290 in Columbiana, Leonard also keeps a promise he made to his mother right before she died in 1996.

She said, “Keep the family together, so we started having annual Leonard family picnics the first Saturday of August at York City Municipal Park.”

Leonard also always attends the military parade in Columbiana and is very active on city council (he’s a past president), as well as continuing to serve on the board of directors at Yorktowne.

He officially sold his interest in York to Matthews York Casket Co. in 1998, although by then he’d already become a real estate agent, then broker, then owner of Donald B. Leonard Realty, a decade earlier.

Leonard retains his broker’s license and, at almost 90 years old, is still helping agents sell houses. And, he still has time for babysitting duties.

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