Profile partially written by Glen Gaudet, Vice Chairman at http://wartimeheritage.com/

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      Staff Sergeant Leonard Clifton Hunt was born to Leonard and Violet (nee Cook) Hunt in New Grafton on October 22nd 1911.  He was the seventh of eleven children, his siblings being Marion, Alma Adele (may have died at birth), Howard, Alma Ethel, Grace, Irene, Margaret, Howard, Norma, and a brother Allison.  They were a farming family and were still living in New Grafton at the time of the 1921 census, when Leonard was ten years old.  The family emigrated to Massachusetts when Leonard was thirteen years old.

 

      Leonard was living in Dewey, Oklahoma, and working for JH Allen when he registered for the US Draft on October 16th, 1940, but by the time he enlisted in the summer of 1942, he was back in Massachusetts.  When Leonard enlisted at 31 years old, he stood five feet eight inches tall (173 cm), weighed 140 pounds (64 kg), and was described as having brown eyes, brown hair and ruddy complexion.  His records do not show if he still retained Canadian citizenship by the time he enlisted.

Leonard would have been made a Private when he joined the United States Air Force in 1942.  Within two years, he had risen three ranks to Staff Sergeant and he was serving with the 675th Bomber Squadron (nicknamed the “Dauntless Demons”), part of the 417th Bombardment Group.

           

      Staff Sergeant Hunt was posted with his Unit to McGuire Field on Mindoro Island in the Philippines on December 22nd, 1944.  The 675th Squadron received a Distinguished Unit Citation for attacking Japanese Convoys between December 30th, 1944 and January 2nd, 1945, an action that impaired Japanese shipping and supply strength, while also clearing the way for the American invasion of Luzon. 

 

      Staff Sergeant Leonard Clifton Hunt perished in action from “a shell fragment, flak, shrapnel” at Bolog, a small rural community on Luzon Island on January 11th, 1945.  The records do not show if he was acting as part of an aircraft crew, aircraft ground support, or in a ground combat role.  But he had previously received an “Air Medal; for meritorious achievement while participating in an aerial flight”, which would imply that he was an airman.

 

      675th Squadron records show no aircraft losses, but six soldiers and airmen perished on that date across Luzon Island.  Staff Sergeant Hunt perished in the same place (and likely circumstances) as First Lieutenant Robert Fred Hedlin, but the details of their deaths seem to be lost in the fog of war.

 

      Staff Sergeant Hunt was initially interred near Bolog.   Four years later, on July 8th, 1949, he was given a gravestone at the Long Island National Cemetery in Framington, New York (in Section J, site 15389).  It is not clear if his remains were repatriated, or if it is a memorial headstone only.  He is also commemorated on his parents’ headstone in Southborough, Massachusetts.

 

      Staff Sergeant Leonard Clifton Hunt is not commemorated in the World War Two Book of Remembrance.  He is not listed on the Caledonia Cenotaph.

 

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Online References

War Grave Search – https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/  nil records

Local Grave Search - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/259371152/leonard-clifton-hunt

Canadian Virtual War Memorial - https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial  nil records

Second World War Personnel Records Database - https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/help/kia  nil records

1921 Canadian Census - https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=census&IdNumber=68040395&ecopy=e002913514

Portions of this profile were initially written for the Wartime Heritage website, which is dedicated to “remembering the wartime heritage and history of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, other Commonwealth Nations and Allied Countries during World War I, World War II and other conflicts.” http://wartimeheritage.com/whaww2ns4/wwii_hunt_leonard_clifton.htm

The Sky Lancer: 417th Bomb Group, Green et al – https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/75/