First Lieutenant Leon Herbert Wheeler was returning from a secret three-month mission in France when the transport ship he was traveling on, the SS Missanabie, was struck by a torpedo from German submarine UB-87 on September 9, 1918. En route from Liverpool to New York, the Missanabie was sunk off the coast of Kinsale, Ireland with a loss of forty-five lives, including Leon. A 1914 graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Leon was an ordnance expert and had been worked on adapting the Browning machine guns for airplanes. Leon was slated to receive a commission as captain upon his return to New York. Leon is buried at Brookwood American Cemetery outside of London.
The older of two children born to Charles Wheeler and Mary Ella Gerrish, Leon was born in Winona, Minnesota and grew up in Ellensburg, Washington. His undergraduate thesis was “Design and Construction of an Automatic High Speed Steam Engine” and in July of 1917 he applied for a patent for a foot pump, which was granted June 21, 1921. (bit.ly/us1382603) After graduating, he worked in the automobile business with Schlesinger Redburn in Manhattan. He entered the army as a lieutenant shortly after war broke out. Leon is one of three men for whom the Austin-Rees-Wheeler American Legion Post No. 8 in Ellensburg was named.
The older of two children born to Charles Wheeler and Mary Ella Gerrish, Leon was born in Winona, Minnesota and grew up in Ellensburg, Washington. His undergraduate thesis was “Design and Construction of an Automatic High Speed Steam Engine” and in July of 1917 he applied for a patent for a foot pump, which was granted June 21, 1921. (bit.ly/us1382603) After graduating, he worked in the automobile business with Schlesinger Redburn in Manhattan. He entered the army as a lieutenant shortly after war broke out. Leon is one of three men for whom the Austin-Rees-Wheeler American Legion Post No. 8 in Ellensburg was named.
First Lieutenant Leon Herbert Wheeler was returning from a secret three-month mission in France when the transport ship he was traveling on, the SS Missanabie, was struck by a torpedo from German submarine UB-87 on September 9, 1918. En route from Liverpool to New York, the Missanabie was sunk off the coast of Kinsale, Ireland with a loss of forty-five lives, including Leon. A 1914 graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Leon was an ordnance expert and had been worked on adapting the Browning machine guns for airplanes. Leon was slated to receive a commission as captain upon his return to New York. Leon is buried at Brookwood American Cemetery outside of London.
The older of two children born to Charles Wheeler and Mary Ella Gerrish, Leon was born in Winona, Minnesota and grew up in Ellensburg, Washington. His undergraduate thesis was “Design and Construction of an Automatic High Speed Steam Engine” and in July of 1917 he applied for a patent for a foot pump, which was granted June 21, 1921. (bit.ly/us1382603) After graduating, he worked in the automobile business with Schlesinger Redburn in Manhattan. He entered the army as a lieutenant shortly after war broke out. Leon is one of three men for whom the Austin-Rees-Wheeler American Legion Post No. 8 in Ellensburg was named.
The older of two children born to Charles Wheeler and Mary Ella Gerrish, Leon was born in Winona, Minnesota and grew up in Ellensburg, Washington. His undergraduate thesis was “Design and Construction of an Automatic High Speed Steam Engine” and in July of 1917 he applied for a patent for a foot pump, which was granted June 21, 1921. (bit.ly/us1382603) After graduating, he worked in the automobile business with Schlesinger Redburn in Manhattan. He entered the army as a lieutenant shortly after war broke out. Leon is one of three men for whom the Austin-Rees-Wheeler American Legion Post No. 8 in Ellensburg was named.
Inscription
Ordnance Department.
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Washington
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
See more Wheeler memorials in:
Advertisement
