World War II veteran Bob Leslie turning 100 on Jan. 6
At the end of World War II, New Castle native Bob Leslie found himself at Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp in Germany where more than 40,000 Jewish prisoners died in the gas chamber.
Stationed with the Army, Bob's division arrived after the notorious camp was closed, yet experiencing its history is something the soon-to-be 100-year-old will never forget.
“We slept in bunk rooms in the room next to the death chamber,” he said. “We didn't like it. They put us in there to prove to the Germans we conquered them.”
A twice-wounded decorated veteran who saw nine months of combat in Europe, Leslie will turn 100 on Jan. 6. His family will celebrate the sharp-minded centenarian during an open house from 2 to 4 pm. Saturday at Clen-moore Presbyterian Church in Neshannock Township.
Today, he lives alone in a studio apartment at Concordia Retirement Community in Cabot. A resident of Laurel Boulevard from 1948 to 1998, and then Hazelcroft Avenue, he has outlived his wife of 74 years. Betty Leslie, a member of the Jameson Junior Guild for 54 years and Sunday school teacher for 40 years at Clen-moore Presbyterian Church, died at 96 in October 2022.
Bob's 55-year career started during his teen years. As a high school student, he worked for his uncle at Spencer Paint & Glass in New Castle. After the war, he returned to the store. Bob retired as president of the former 15 S. Mercer St. business in 1994.
Born on Jan. 6, 1924, at the family home on Lutton Street, he was the son of Walter and Blodwen Leslie. His twin sister died at birth.
“She weighed more than I did, but had a broken arm and the shock of the birth killed her,” he said.
Leslie graduated from New Castle High School in January 1942. Two months later, the then18-year-old was drafted along with 40 to 50 classmates.
Assigned to the 8th Armored Division, he was sent to the University of Oklahoma, where he learned how to rebuild electrical and water systems in ally countries damaged during the war.
In the fall of 1994, the Army sent him to Germany
and Austria. Initially, “we had it pretty easy.”
“All we did was occupation in this beautiful country,” he said. “The Austrians liked us even though they fought for the Germans. They had been ordered to join Hitler.”
Leslie said while training for battle, they had a “nice summer” up in the mountains outside Innsbruck, a city in the Alps.
“They had a ski resort at the top of the mountain and we would go up there on our time off,” he said.
The war eventually took Leslie's division into combat in the mountains during the winter of 1944-45. While fighting the Germans, everyone in Leslie's division was either injured or killed. He took shrapnel to face but was never hospitalized.
“It was cold and we had snow on the ground,” Bob said. “We had a different uniform than the average infantryman and a quilted sleeping bag. At least we would stay warm at night.”
They wore felt-lined boots to keep their feet from freezing.
As the war went on, supplies dwindled and the U.S. Army captured a lot of Germans, who eventually surrendered. By that time, the 5-foot-7 Leslie weighed less than 100 pounds.
He returned to New Castle in November 1945.
“Life was pretty good,” Bob said. “I could do what I pleased, go where I wanted and went to dances and things like that.”
At Spencer Paint & Glass, business was good.
“There were a lot of broken windows people had boarded up,” he said.
Bob bought a gently used 1939 Chevrolet for $500 and met 1944 New Castle High School graduate Betty Coryea; 11 months later they married.
The war, however, left Bob with undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder until about 10 to 12 years ago, his son, Dave said. His father never demonstrated affection.
“He couldn't say he loved anyone until after the PTSD diagnosis and got help with it,” Dave said. “He used to tell stories of the war when my brother and I were kids. That's the kind of story he would tell. We didn't understand it; it was just a story.”
A resident of Stevensville, Maryland, Dave said he started to understand his father's experience after serving in the Navy for 21 years.
He described his father as hard-working and active in the church.
“He had friends he known as a child, one of the advantages of small towns,” the 70-year-old said. “He always had an outlet. He didn't have a temper and always had someone to talk to at a fairly high intellectual level.”
During the Leslies' marriage, Dave said he never heard his parents argue, nor did they discuss things in great depth.
The couple's other children are Karen Baughman, 72, of Butler, and Jim Leslie, 68, of Lebanon. Seven grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren complete the family.