LEONARD L. LYONS, JR., LCDR, USNR

Leonard Lyons, Jr. '21

Date of birth: July 8, 1898

Date of death: January 9, 1945

Age: 46

Lucky Bag

From the 1921 Lucky Bag:

Leonard LeBaron Lyons, Jr.

Mobile, Alabama

"Barry" "Count" "LeB"

"THE light that lies in woman's eyes,
Has been my heart's undoing."

Barry didn't write those lines but he surely has lived them. Browning's poor duchess who loved all that she looked upon and whose looks went everywhere, didn't have a thing on "Eaglebeak." He is so susceptible to the charms of Southern girls that he has nearly worn out the Western Union wiring compliments and notices to three of the four invited to the hop, that he is sick. He bought so many class pins that he got them for half price, and he himself says that he has ordered three miniatures. If he ever gets married he'll have to elope and wire regrets to the rest of his fiancees after it's over.

Barry has a "Mobile" nose, an "I'm from Alabama" expression, a globe-trotter attitude, and the manners of a Chesterfield. And you'd never guess it, but he's a little bit conceited. He doesn't tell anybody, but he really thinks he's pretty good and he is.

"Open — — — — — — — — — Ranks."

C.P.O.; One Stripe.

The Class of 1921 was the last of the wartime-accelerated classes. "1921A" was graduated on June 3, 1920; the second half, "1921B", was graduated on June 2, 1921. Leonard was graduated with 1921A.

Leonard LeBaron Lyons, Jr.

Mobile, Alabama

"Barry" "Count" "LeB"

"THE light that lies in woman's eyes,
Has been my heart's undoing."

Barry didn't write those lines but he surely has lived them. Browning's poor duchess who loved all that she looked upon and whose looks went everywhere, didn't have a thing on "Eaglebeak." He is so susceptible to the charms of Southern girls that he has nearly worn out the Western Union wiring compliments and notices to three of the four invited to the hop, that he is sick. He bought so many class pins that he got them for half price, and he himself says that he has ordered three miniatures. If he ever gets married he'll have to elope and wire regrets to the rest of his fiancees after it's over.

Barry has a "Mobile" nose, an "I'm from Alabama" expression, a globe-trotter attitude, and the manners of a Chesterfield. And you'd never guess it, but he's a little bit conceited. He doesn't tell anybody, but he really thinks he's pretty good and he is.

"Open — — — — — — — — — Ranks."

C.P.O.; One Stripe.

The Class of 1921 was the last of the wartime-accelerated classes. "1921A" was graduated on June 3, 1920; the second half, "1921B", was graduated on June 2, 1921. Leonard was graduated with 1921A.

Loss

Leonard was lost on January 9, 1945, when the "Hell Ship" he was aboard, Enoura Maru, was bombed in Takao harbor, Formosa.

Unable to find what billet he was in prior to the fall of Corregidor, but he was listed as a member of the 16th Naval District.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Leonard was stationed in California after graduation from the Naval Academy and became fast friends with Ethel Naomi (last name unknown.) They married on October 23, 1921, in Riverside. Shortly thereafter, Leonard and his father discovered that she had made many false statements. In one, she said that she had been married to the late Lieutenant-Commander Elliot, USN. Leonard left her and sued for an annulment. She counter-sued for alimony and for grievances against his father for alienation of affection. In her $125,000 law suit, she said his father called her a “jailbird” and a “scoundrel.”
Leonard’s naval pay was $190/month, and he earned interest from $6,000 in bonds. She was granted $25/week in alimony. She was pregnant and wanted $300 for a layette ($16 for a baby scale which was not allowed), but only $100 was granted. Their daughter Camille was born July 30, 1922. Ethel was jailed on November 18 for trying to swindle Dr. Margaret Morris of $265 over a false charge that she hired Dr. George A. Zorb on the case of a dying patient. Ethel was released on bond, and she married for a third time in February, 1923, to Frank Balston.
While Leonard’s divorce case was in progress, he was best man at the wedding of his classmate Charles Galloway Magruder, Jr., at St. Peter’s Chapel on Mare Island in July 1922.
On August 16, 1924, Leonard married Nelle Hotchkiss on August 16, 1924, in Denver, Colorado. They had three sons: Leonard, III, born in Colon in September 1925; and William I. and Peter Hotchkiss, both born in Ohio.
In December 1925, Leonard, his wife and son sailed from Cristobal, Canal Zone, to New Orleans. Leonard left the Navy, and in 1930, his family lived in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where he was a bank salesman. In 1940, the family lived in University Heights, and he was a salesman for naval stores raw materials.
On July 19, 1949, Leonard’s funeral was held in Mobile. He was buried in the Magnolia Cemetery near his father, who had also died in January 1945, and his stepmother. Leonard’s widow Nelle died at the Casa Blanca Hotel in Montego Bay in April 1947.
Leonard’s father had been vice president of the First National Bank of Mobile. His mother Mary Irwin (Hall) died in October 1899. His brother was Marion. In the fall of 1915, his stepmother, the former Edna Snow, volunteered to sell the book “Mr. Doctor-Man” written by Mrs. Helen S. Woodruff of New York. The proceeds would be given to the Book Committee of the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham.

His wife, Nelle, was listed as next of kin; he was also survived by a son, Leonard III.

Leonard is buried in Alabama.

Prisoner of War Medal

From Hall of Valor:

Lieutenant Commander Leonard L. Lyons (NSN: 0-56749), United States Navy, was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Corregidor, Philippine Islands, on 6 May 1942, and was held as a Prisoner of War until his death while still in captivity.
General Orders: NARA Database: Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 - 1947
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.