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Contact Info
Home Town New Orleans, LA and Detroit, MI.
Last Address Elmore John Leonard, Jr. Born: 11-Oct-1925 Birthplace: New Orleans, LA Died: 20-Aug-2013 Location of death: Bloomfield Township, MI
Date of Passing Aug 20, 2013
Location of Interment Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery - Detroit, Michigan
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Last Known Activity:
SK3 Elmore John Leonard, Jr. Seabee, U.S. Navy 1943-1946
Elmore Leonard Born: 11-Oct-1925
Birthplace: New Orleans, LA
Died: 20-Aug-2013
Location of death: Bloomfield Township, MI
In 1943, at the age of 17, Leonard graduated from The University of Detroit High School, and tried to join the Marines, but was rejected because of poor vision. He was subsequently drafted and assigned to the Seabees, the fighting construction battalion of the United States Navy. He served for a little more than a year and a half in the Admiralty Islands and the Philippines before returning home in January of 1946. He was assigned to a ship for six and a half months and was discharged from the Navy in June of that year.
Elmore Leonard was the author of numerous westerns and hard-boiled crime novels. Leonard grew up in Detroit and served in the US Navy before attending the University of Michigan. Friends called him "Dutch", a nickname that somehow stuck on Leonard from childhood, named for a pitcher with the Washington Senators, Emil "Dutch" Leonard. He married in 1949, and eventually fathered five children. He began supporting his increasingly large family by writing advertising copy, mostly for Chevrolet. In his spare time he wrote Westerns, but they did not bring in enough money to live on. In 1951, Leonard was ready to quit the ad business and concentrate on writing full-time, but his agent talked him out of it. After the success of the Paul Newman's dramatization of Leonard's Hombre, he finally quit his day job. See bio.
Funeral: Navy officers in white dress uniforms conducted a "farewell to arms" flag presentation ceremony and played "Taps" on a bugle for Leonard, a Navy veteran of World War II.
World War II/American Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Description The American Theater was a minor area of operations during World War II. This was mainly due to both North and South America's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia. Thus, any threat by the Axis Powers to invade the mainland United States or other areas was considered negligible, allowing for American resources to be deployed in overseas theaters.
This article includes attacks on continental territory, extending 200 miles (320 km) into the ocean, which is today under the sovereignty of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several other smaller states, but excludes military action involving the Danish territory of Greenland, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Aleutian Islands. The most well known battles in North America during World War II were the Attack on Pearl Harbor (the first attack on US soil since the Battle of Ambos Nogales), the Aleutian Islands Campaign, the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and the attacks on Newfoundland.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1943
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Last Updated: Dec 24, 2023
Personal Memories
Memories In 1943, at the age of 17, Leonard graduated from The University of Detroit High School, and tried to join the Marines, but was rejected because of poor vision. He was subsequently drafted and assigned to the Seabees, the fighting construction battalion of the United States Navy. He served for a little more than a year and a half in the Admiralty Islands and the Philippines before returning home in January of 1946. He was assigned to a ship for six and a half months and was discharged from the Navy in June of that year.