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O<em>smund Alfred Leahy </em>was born 3I August 1915 to James and Marie Leahy in Owego, New York, where his father was a merchant. Oz, his three brothers, and his three sisters grew up in that small town, where he finished high school in 1934. In those lean Depression years, when Oz found he couldn’t attend nearby Cornell, he enlisted in the Navy. After Serving as an apprentice seaman aboard a destroyer in the Atlantic, he entered rite Naval Academy Preparatory Class at Norfolk, Virginia. He won an appointment to USMA and reported to West Point in July 1936.</p>
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Oz quickly settled into the cadet routine. He kept his own counsel and pursued each assigned duty with stubborn determination until it was finished to his satisfaction. He found no great difficulty with academics; through all four years, he ranked right at the middle of his class. He was calm, self-confident, patient, precise, and optimistic and soon was best-known for his quiet willingness to work. Few were surprised when he became first sergeant of his company during his first class year. These traits developed in his cadet days, served him well throughout his career.</p>
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Like the rest of his class, Oz found his graduation leave cut short by the Army’s mobilization. His first duty assignment was at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. There, Oz and Elizabeth Pennell were married in December 1941, and their first child, Margaret, was born in November 1942.</p>
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In the fall of 1942 Oz joined the newly- activated 82d Airborne Division, with which he served throughout World War II. Oz was on the division staff during the fighting in North Africa and during jumps into Sicily and onto the beachhead at Salerno, Italy. When the 82d jumped into Normandy to spearhead the D-Day Landings, he replaced his gravely wounded battalion commander and ably led the battalion in the capture of its objective.</p>
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Oz went on to command the 3d Battalion of the 82d’s 325th Glider Infantry Regiment from June 1944, when he took command in Normandy, until the end of the war in Berlin. Bud Olson, who was Intelligence sergeant and later sergeant major of the 3d Battalion, says now, “I believe I knew him as well or better than any enlisted man in the battalion. I followed him through Normandy, Holland, Belgium, and Germany. He was a first-class officer, very strict but fair.” Sergeant Olson went on, “I still remember him walking into our command post in Normandy. The battalion had just lost its third commander in five days and was badly understrength. We were disorganized; Co. K was lost; and morale was low. Major Leahy called for all the officers and sent me to find Co. K. He then talked to the few remaining officers and laid down his rules. There was only one way—his way. It didn’t take him long to make the battalion a fighting unit again.” Clay Blair, in Ridgeway’s Paratroopers, says of the 3d Battalion, “... under Leahy’s Lead­ership, it became one of the division’s best.”</p>
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There was an unusual incident shortly after the 82d dropped at Nijmegen in Operation Market Garden. Oz<sup>’</sup> 3d Battalion had attacked through the dense Kiekberg Wood on the heights along the Netherlands-German border. Oz later told of coming upon one of his forward platoons standing—stalemated—in a small clearing in the thick undergrowth. They were facing, a few feet away, similar—equally surprised— elements of a German S.S. battalion. Oz and the opposing battalion commander each de­manded the other surrender; neither agreed. They compromised on a brief cease-fire to separate their forces. After the cease-fire, the Germans launched a strong counterattack, but it was stopped by the defenses Oz had set up during the lull. The 3d Battalion then continued the war as before.</p>
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After World War II, the Leahys moved to Fort Benning. Oz served with the Infantry School and James was born in September 1947 and Elizabeth in May 1950. Oz then returned to Fort Bragg, where Thomas (USMA ‘74) was born in August 1952. Here Oz served with the Army board developing and testing combat techniques and equipment. On one occasion, Oz flight tested a new, quick-opening parachute. As he exited the plane, the chute opened very rapidly and caught on the plane’s tail section. The shock broke both his collar-bones; Oz dangled there, trapped. The plane crew could neither haul him back in the plane nor shake him loose. Oz somehow reached his knife, cut his shrouds, and, once free of the plane, opened his reserve chute and landed— despite the broken collar-bones!</p>
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Oz had several details with overseas MAAGs and Missions, evidencing his ability to work with people rather than trying to dominate them. His tours in the Philippines and Korea alternated with his graduation from the Army War College and with a detail as senior Army instructor at the Air University. Oz was promoted to brigadier general in 1964 and sent as chief, U.S. Training Mission to Saudi Arabia, after which he went back to Fort Bragg as chief of staff, XVIII Airborne Corps.</p>
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Oz gained his second star in 1967, along with assignment as CG, II Corps (Reserve) at Fort Hamilton, followed by command of the 7th Infantry Division in Korea. He then went to Fort Belvoir as CG of the newly-formed Institute of Land Combat. It was while they were at Fort Belvoir that his wife Elizabeth died of cancer on 22 January 1970.</p>
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New orders then assigned Oz as Deputy CG, Sixth Army, at the Presidio of San Francisco. While there, he met Patricia Strand Dorn, who also had been widowed several years earlier. Oz and Pat were married in December 1971.</p>
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Oz retired in 1972 but was immediately recalled to active duty as chief of the Military Disability Agency at Walter Reed Medical Center, an assignment calling for the wise decisions and advice of a mature, experienced combat commander. When he was again retired in 1977, he had been on active duty over 37 years. He had made 103 parachute jump. His decorations, which summarize his devotion to Duty, Honor, and his Country, include the Distinguished Service Medal, three Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Netherlands Order of the Bronze Lion and two French Croix de Guerre.</p>
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Oz and Pat built an attractive home in Bethesda, not far from the Chevy Chase Country Club and a comfortable drive from the Army and Navy Club, where Oz served on the board of governors. In 1980, Oz was elected president of the Class of ‘40 for the ensuing five years by his classmates, confirming the high regard in which they held him. Oz spoke frequently of his pride in this distinction.</p>
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Oz was diagnosed early in 1988 as having lung cancer. After extensive treatment, the cancer seemed in remission. Then, just after Pat and Oz moved into a new Chevy Chase condominium in fall 1988, Oz quietly told his friends he had an inoperable, malignant brain tumor. Pat did everything possible to help Oz, but his physical condition deteriorated steadily. He remained calm and optimistic, telling callers he was sure just a little more therapy would have him active and walking again. Finally, Oz had to go to a nursing home in Bethesda where they could physically care for him. There he died quietly on 9 December 1989, having lived “Duty, Honor, Country” to the end.</p>
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<em>George Mayo </em><em>‘</em><em>40</em></p>