Leon served in the Merchant Marine for eight months prior to enlisting in the U. S. Navy on 31 March 1942 (S/N 624-54-92) in Houston, Texas.
Radioman Third Class Lewis was received on board LST-460 (a LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship) on 15 February 1943 , the day of its commissioning from NTB Portsmouth, Virginia. He was advanced in rank to Radioman Second Class on 01 July 1943. Leon was promoted to Radioman First Class on 01 March 1944 (BuPers C/L 110-43).
During World War II, LST-460 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater. Leon would have been involved in the consolidation of the southern Solomons in June 1943; the New Georgia Campaign which included the Vella Lavella occupation in August 1943; the Treasury Island landings, November 1943; the Hollandia operation in April 1944; the Western New Guinea operation, the Morotai landing in September 1944; the Leyte operation in November 1944 and the invasion of Mindoro in December 1944.
On 21 December 1944, LST-460 was hit by a Japanese kamikaze plane in the Sulu Sea near Mindoro, Philippines. In addition to about 300 troops, LST-460 was carrying a large supply of ammunition and gasoline. The crash set off numerous explosions and fires, killing and wounding scores of sailors and soldiers.
Mindoro Resupply Echelon
The first resupply echelon for Mindoro consisted of 11 destroyers, 14 LST's 6 freighters, 4 LCIs and Army F. S. 187. The group left Leyte Gulf during the evening of 19 December and proceeded via the usual round. Air attacks commenced on the morning of the 21st, and at dusk of that date while in the Sulu Sea, two groups of suicide planes attacked. Source: WWII War Diaries; Report of Operations in Pacific Ocean Areas, December 1944, page 51
21 December 1944
At 1700 while in the Sulu Sea, sixty miles south of Mindoro Island, in position 11°-11' N, 121°-11" E contacted enemy planes on radar screens bearing 350° T, 36 miles.
At 1715, sighted four planes off the port bow of the formation.
At 1717, planes, identified as OSCARS, separated and commenced dives on ships of the formation. The ships opened fire.
Four suicide attacks were made on the convoy of the first Mindoro resupply echelon at 1719, 21 December, east of the Cuyo Island group in the Philippines. Three ships were hit: LST 460, LST 749, and the liberty ship HOBART BAKER…LST 460 was hit in the center, soon was burning from end to end with frequent large explosions. It appeared to be a total loss as it lighted the shy for hours afterwards and explosions continued… Personnel abandoned ship; some were blown off by the initial explosion, and the ships in vicinity proceeded immediately with the rescue. Source: War Diary, 12/1-31/44; Commander Destroyer Division Forty-Six; Report of Ops Escorting Resupply Echelon L3 to Mindoro Is, Philippines, 12/20-22/44, pages 8-9.
Leon was one of the sailors killed. His body was not recovered. Radioman First Class Leon Cole Lewis is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Navy at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Radioman Third Class Lewis was received on board LST-460 (a LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship) on 15 February 1943 , the day of its commissioning from NTB Portsmouth, Virginia. He was advanced in rank to Radioman Second Class on 01 July 1943. Leon was promoted to Radioman First Class on 01 March 1944 (BuPers C/L 110-43).
During World War II, LST-460 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater. Leon would have been involved in the consolidation of the southern Solomons in June 1943; the New Georgia Campaign which included the Vella Lavella occupation in August 1943; the Treasury Island landings, November 1943; the Hollandia operation in April 1944; the Western New Guinea operation, the Morotai landing in September 1944; the Leyte operation in November 1944 and the invasion of Mindoro in December 1944.
On 21 December 1944, LST-460 was hit by a Japanese kamikaze plane in the Sulu Sea near Mindoro, Philippines. In addition to about 300 troops, LST-460 was carrying a large supply of ammunition and gasoline. The crash set off numerous explosions and fires, killing and wounding scores of sailors and soldiers.
Mindoro Resupply Echelon
The first resupply echelon for Mindoro consisted of 11 destroyers, 14 LST's 6 freighters, 4 LCIs and Army F. S. 187. The group left Leyte Gulf during the evening of 19 December and proceeded via the usual round. Air attacks commenced on the morning of the 21st, and at dusk of that date while in the Sulu Sea, two groups of suicide planes attacked. Source: WWII War Diaries; Report of Operations in Pacific Ocean Areas, December 1944, page 51
21 December 1944
At 1700 while in the Sulu Sea, sixty miles south of Mindoro Island, in position 11°-11' N, 121°-11" E contacted enemy planes on radar screens bearing 350° T, 36 miles.
At 1715, sighted four planes off the port bow of the formation.
At 1717, planes, identified as OSCARS, separated and commenced dives on ships of the formation. The ships opened fire.
Four suicide attacks were made on the convoy of the first Mindoro resupply echelon at 1719, 21 December, east of the Cuyo Island group in the Philippines. Three ships were hit: LST 460, LST 749, and the liberty ship HOBART BAKER…LST 460 was hit in the center, soon was burning from end to end with frequent large explosions. It appeared to be a total loss as it lighted the shy for hours afterwards and explosions continued… Personnel abandoned ship; some were blown off by the initial explosion, and the ships in vicinity proceeded immediately with the rescue. Source: War Diary, 12/1-31/44; Commander Destroyer Division Forty-Six; Report of Ops Escorting Resupply Echelon L3 to Mindoro Is, Philippines, 12/20-22/44, pages 8-9.
Leon was one of the sailors killed. His body was not recovered. Radioman First Class Leon Cole Lewis is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Navy at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Leon served in the Merchant Marine for eight months prior to enlisting in the U. S. Navy on 31 March 1942 (S/N 624-54-92) in Houston, Texas.
Radioman Third Class Lewis was received on board LST-460 (a LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship) on 15 February 1943 , the day of its commissioning from NTB Portsmouth, Virginia. He was advanced in rank to Radioman Second Class on 01 July 1943. Leon was promoted to Radioman First Class on 01 March 1944 (BuPers C/L 110-43).
During World War II, LST-460 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater. Leon would have been involved in the consolidation of the southern Solomons in June 1943; the New Georgia Campaign which included the Vella Lavella occupation in August 1943; the Treasury Island landings, November 1943; the Hollandia operation in April 1944; the Western New Guinea operation, the Morotai landing in September 1944; the Leyte operation in November 1944 and the invasion of Mindoro in December 1944.
On 21 December 1944, LST-460 was hit by a Japanese kamikaze plane in the Sulu Sea near Mindoro, Philippines. In addition to about 300 troops, LST-460 was carrying a large supply of ammunition and gasoline. The crash set off numerous explosions and fires, killing and wounding scores of sailors and soldiers.
Mindoro Resupply Echelon
The first resupply echelon for Mindoro consisted of 11 destroyers, 14 LST's 6 freighters, 4 LCIs and Army F. S. 187. The group left Leyte Gulf during the evening of 19 December and proceeded via the usual round. Air attacks commenced on the morning of the 21st, and at dusk of that date while in the Sulu Sea, two groups of suicide planes attacked. Source: WWII War Diaries; Report of Operations in Pacific Ocean Areas, December 1944, page 51
21 December 1944
At 1700 while in the Sulu Sea, sixty miles south of Mindoro Island, in position 11°-11' N, 121°-11" E contacted enemy planes on radar screens bearing 350° T, 36 miles.
At 1715, sighted four planes off the port bow of the formation.
At 1717, planes, identified as OSCARS, separated and commenced dives on ships of the formation. The ships opened fire.
Four suicide attacks were made on the convoy of the first Mindoro resupply echelon at 1719, 21 December, east of the Cuyo Island group in the Philippines. Three ships were hit: LST 460, LST 749, and the liberty ship HOBART BAKER…LST 460 was hit in the center, soon was burning from end to end with frequent large explosions. It appeared to be a total loss as it lighted the shy for hours afterwards and explosions continued… Personnel abandoned ship; some were blown off by the initial explosion, and the ships in vicinity proceeded immediately with the rescue. Source: War Diary, 12/1-31/44; Commander Destroyer Division Forty-Six; Report of Ops Escorting Resupply Echelon L3 to Mindoro Is, Philippines, 12/20-22/44, pages 8-9.
Leon was one of the sailors killed. His body was not recovered. Radioman First Class Leon Cole Lewis is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Navy at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Radioman Third Class Lewis was received on board LST-460 (a LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship) on 15 February 1943 , the day of its commissioning from NTB Portsmouth, Virginia. He was advanced in rank to Radioman Second Class on 01 July 1943. Leon was promoted to Radioman First Class on 01 March 1944 (BuPers C/L 110-43).
During World War II, LST-460 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater. Leon would have been involved in the consolidation of the southern Solomons in June 1943; the New Georgia Campaign which included the Vella Lavella occupation in August 1943; the Treasury Island landings, November 1943; the Hollandia operation in April 1944; the Western New Guinea operation, the Morotai landing in September 1944; the Leyte operation in November 1944 and the invasion of Mindoro in December 1944.
On 21 December 1944, LST-460 was hit by a Japanese kamikaze plane in the Sulu Sea near Mindoro, Philippines. In addition to about 300 troops, LST-460 was carrying a large supply of ammunition and gasoline. The crash set off numerous explosions and fires, killing and wounding scores of sailors and soldiers.
Mindoro Resupply Echelon
The first resupply echelon for Mindoro consisted of 11 destroyers, 14 LST's 6 freighters, 4 LCIs and Army F. S. 187. The group left Leyte Gulf during the evening of 19 December and proceeded via the usual round. Air attacks commenced on the morning of the 21st, and at dusk of that date while in the Sulu Sea, two groups of suicide planes attacked. Source: WWII War Diaries; Report of Operations in Pacific Ocean Areas, December 1944, page 51
21 December 1944
At 1700 while in the Sulu Sea, sixty miles south of Mindoro Island, in position 11°-11' N, 121°-11" E contacted enemy planes on radar screens bearing 350° T, 36 miles.
At 1715, sighted four planes off the port bow of the formation.
At 1717, planes, identified as OSCARS, separated and commenced dives on ships of the formation. The ships opened fire.
Four suicide attacks were made on the convoy of the first Mindoro resupply echelon at 1719, 21 December, east of the Cuyo Island group in the Philippines. Three ships were hit: LST 460, LST 749, and the liberty ship HOBART BAKER…LST 460 was hit in the center, soon was burning from end to end with frequent large explosions. It appeared to be a total loss as it lighted the shy for hours afterwards and explosions continued… Personnel abandoned ship; some were blown off by the initial explosion, and the ships in vicinity proceeded immediately with the rescue. Source: War Diary, 12/1-31/44; Commander Destroyer Division Forty-Six; Report of Ops Escorting Resupply Echelon L3 to Mindoro Is, Philippines, 12/20-22/44, pages 8-9.
Leon was one of the sailors killed. His body was not recovered. Radioman First Class Leon Cole Lewis is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Navy at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Texas.
