Pyle vies with citation in letter from Navy hero
Monday, March 26, 1945
Shipmate of Ernie Pyle on the Tokyo carrier strike and recent winner of the Silver Star – that’s Lt. Leonard S. Levison, 26, a Pitt graduate who during his 20 months of active service has participated in practically every major Pacific naval action.
In his last letter to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur A. Levison of 1613 Shady Avenue, Lt. Levison was just as excited about Pyle coming aboard his ship as he was about his citation. In fact, Lt. Levison took Ernie from a conference on the Admiral’s ship to the carrier as the mighty task force set out for Tokyo.
Lt. Levison is in charge of the catapult and arresting gear of his carrier. This is ordinarily a two-man job, but he has been handling it by himself.
He received the Silver Star “for distinguishing himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity on November 25, 1944, when he performed his duties calmly under intense strafing by Jap planes.”
A violent explosion occurred near him when one of the flattop’s planes was strafed. The catapult room was damaged and the high-pressure air flask was in danger of exploding. The citation said Lt. Levison bled the flash, reducing the danger, and then heroically returned to the flight deck and skillfully assisted in fighting fires and helping remove wounded during a subsequent air attack.
The East End officer was further cited for distinguished service and meritorious performance of duty earlier last year. States the citation:
Lt. Levison operated and maintained his equipment with such expert skill and efficiency that he was largely instrumental in successful completion of his carrier’s air operations.
“To think,” said his father, an official of the Blaw-Knox Company, “that he is in charge of complicated mechanisms! When he was home, we couldn’t trust him to drive a nail.”
At Pitt, Lt. Levison was sports editor of the Pitt News. Graduated in 1939, he worked for a New York department store until commissioned an ensign in 1942. A brother, Murray, is in the midshipman school at Northwestern University.