Harold Rex Leas ¹

  General Notes:

He joined the Navy after graduating from high school in 1940; serving 4 or 6 years on a ship and on shore. He played trombone in the navy band and was told to play "Nearer My God To Thee" as the last survivor if the ship went down. Thank Goodness it didn't!!

After discharge from the Navy he was accepted to the Julliard School Of Music in New York City through his Navy benefits. After completion he moved to Flordia and taught music many years in the Florida schools.


During WW II, Rex served on the USS Alcor:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other ships with the same name, see USS Alcor.
USS Alcor
History

Name:USS Alcor
Builder:Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Laid down:1928, as SS Dixie
Acquired:3 March 1941
Commissioned:4 September 1941
Decommissioned:5 August 1946
Reclassified:
AG-34, (Miscellaneous Auxiliary), 4 September 1941
AR-10 (Repair Ship), 22 December 1941
AD-34 (Destroyer Tender), 6 November 1944
Struck:28 August 1946
Fate:
Sold, 6 August 1946
Scrapped, 1950
General characteristics
Type:Destroyer tender
Displacement:12,250 long tons (12,447 t)
Length:445 ft (136 m)
Beam:60 ft (18 m)
Draft:25 ft 8 in (7.82 m)
Speed:16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Complement:734 officers and enlisted
Armament:
4 × single 3"/50 caliber guns
2 × single 40 mm AA gun mounts
8 × single 20 mm AA gun mounts
USS Alcor (AD-34) was a destroyer tender, the lone ship in her class, named for a star (also known as the 80 Ursae Majoris) in the constellation Ursa Major.

Originally built in 1928 as SS Dixie at the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Kearny, New Jersey, she was formally acquired by the United States Navy on 3 March 1941 from the Southern Pacific Steamship lines (Morgan Line) and converted for naval service at the Bethlehem Steel Key Highway Plant in Baltimore, Maryland. The vessel was commissioned as USS Alcor (AG-34) on 4 September 1941 with Commander Edward A. Mitchell in command.

Service history[edit]
The ship got underway on 7 December to sail to Casco Bay, Maine. After completing shakedown training, she shaped a course for Norfolk, Virginia and, upon reaching that port on 19 December, became the flagship of Commander, Train, Atlantic Fleet. Re-classified a repair ship and redesignated AR-10 on 22 December 1941 Alcor began a tour of duty at Norfolk (repairing damage and making alterations to warships) that lasted for more than 30 months.

Her protracted sojourn at Norfolk came to an end on 4 July 1944 when the repair ship got underway for the New England coast. She reached Casco Bay on 14 July and became the flagship of Commander, Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet. She remained in Casco Bay for the next five months making repairs for various ships of the fleet. While carrying out this assignment, her designation was changed to AD-34 on 6 November 1944. In early January, 1945 the destroyer tender left the east coast, bound for the Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal and joined the Pacific Fleet on 16 January. Alcor continued on to Hawaii and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 3 February. She provided tender services there until 4 June, when she sailed for the Philippine Islands. While en route, the vessel was diverted to Eniwetok. After a four-day layover for a special construction project, the tender resumed her original course and arrived at Leyte on 26 June. There, she reported to Service Squadron 10 for duty and began repair work for various ships. During Alcor's service in the Philippines, Japan capitulated on 15 August 1945.

Alcor left Philippine waters on 14 September and headed for Okinawa. She reached Buckner Bay on the 18th and resumed her tender duties. She sailed for Japan on 28 February 1946. Her first stop was at Sasebo, where she carried out repair work through late March. Alcor then moved her operations to Yokosuka. The tender finished her tour there on 8 May, then shaped a course for the United States. After a pause en route at Pearl Harbor, the ship reached San Diego on 3 June. She sailed back through the Panama Canal and reached Norfolk on 22 June. Preparations were begun for her deactivation, and Alcor was decommissioned on 5 August 1946. The vessel was sold on 6 August 1946. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 August 1946; she was later scrapped in 1950. ^{4 5}

  Noted events in his life were:

• Resided: US Census, 1930, Smithfield Township, DeKalb County, Indiana, USA.

• Military: United States Navy, 1940-1944, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. ⁵

• United States Census: Resided, 1940, Smithfield Township, DeKalb County, Indiana, USA.