World War II Honoree

Leonard Hunter Beckett

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Indian Mills, West Virginia

Honored By

Family

Relationship

Friend of Family

Drafted into the Navy in June 1943 and reported to the Great Lakes Training Naval Station in Illinois. After boot camp training he went to Hawthorne NV to a Navy Ammunition Depot where they unloaded ammunition off the trains and stored it in the ammunition magazines. On December 6, he was transferred from the Depot to Port Hueneme in California. There they were outfitted for overseas equipment and December 12 went aboard the USS Celeno (AK-76) a crated class cargo ship and headed for the South Pacific. After arriving on the island of Espiritu Santo in the Caroline Islands he drove a truck engaged in stevedore hauling freight from the ship to storage buildings. He then went from Espiritu Santo to the Green Island, a little horseshoe shaped island off the coast of New Guinea. There was a bomber strip and squadron of B24’s, F4U’s and torpedo bombers on the island. His primary duty was to maintain the living and dining quarters for the pilots and crews. Later he left the Green Islands and went to the Admiralty Islands where he was assigned to the seaplane base fire department. He returned to the United States arriving in Seattle WA December 28, 1945. From there he went to Long Island NY.