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Contact Info
Home Town Fort MacPherson, Georgia
Last Address Williams AFB, Mesa, Arizona
Date of Passing Mar 10, 1959
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Leroy Watson was born in Fort MacPherson, Ga. on 30 December 1917, the son of Captain (later Major General) Leroy H. Watson and Alice Furey Watson. The years of his youth were the pleasant ones of an Army boy, moving from Post to Post with his family and absorbing the service lore which he loved so much.
He first entered West Point with the Class of 1940. After some difficulties with the Dept. of Mathematics in his Plebe year, he was turned back to join the Class of ’41. It was our great gain. He graduated with us, standing in the upper quarter of the class.
Roy chose the Infantry on graduation in order to get into the newly forming Armored Force. His first assignment as a Platoon leader was to the Third Armored Division at Camp Polk, Louisiana. Within six months he was a Company Commander, and a extremely capable one.
In the summer of 1942, Roy made a most difficult decision. He decided that opportunities for combat duty would come to him sooner in the Army Air Force, and thus transferred to that branch of the service. Roy soon won his wings and was sent to England in 1943 to command a B-17 Squadron. Thereafter, during World War II. Roy proved himself an outstanding pilot, commander and operational staff officer. He flew a total of 208 combat missions and was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Cluster, the Croix de Guerre with Palm and the Air Medal with Three Clusters.
In late 1944, Roy suffered the first of two personal tragedies when his wife Sheila died suddenly while he was in England. He finished out the war with his unit and returned to the United States for a short tour at Wright Field. Thereafter he was assigned to West Point as instructor and Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, Government and History. While stationed at West Point, Roy married Mrs. Ethel Ball.
In 1952 Roy was assigned to the Staff of Admiral Arthur W. Radford. Commander-in-Chief, Pacific. Following a delightful three-year tour in Hawaii, Roy was requested by Admiral Radford to be his Executive Assistant when the Admiral was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Roy remained with Admiral Radford during his two terms as Chairman; four years of hard work but most satisfying duty.
In the summer of 1958, Roy received a second tragic blow in the death, after a long illness, of his beloved wife Ethel.
As an indication of Roy’s real worth to the service, the following are extracts from a letter received by his father from the Vice President of the United States:
“Dear General Watson:
I have just now learned of your son’s passing and I wanted to get this note off to you to tell you how very deeply sorry I am. I considered him one of the finest officers I have ever known, and his loss is indeed a personal one to me...
While words mean very little at times like these, please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you in the days ahead.
With kindest regards,
Sincerely,
Richard Nixon”
When one thinks of Roy, as all we who knew him so well have done since his death, I believe one would single out as his outstanding characteristics, aggressiveness, intellectual brilliance and unfailing good humor. He had all three in abundance. His service to his country was highlighted during World War II by high courage and competence. After the war his outstanding contribution was his superior staff support to Admiral Radford.
Roy passed away in his sleep on 10 March 1959 at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. He leaves his two lovely daughters, Louise and Sheila, his father, Major General Leroy H. Watson, his stepmother, two sisters and a younger brother.
And he leaves his host of friends saddened by his untimely death, but finding some solace in the certain knowledge that Roy served his God and his Country uncommonly well.
World War II/European-African-Middle Eastern Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
May / 1945
Description The European-Mediterranean-Middle East Theater was a major theater of operations during the Second World War (between December 7, 1941, and March 2, 1946). The vast size of Europe, Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected naval, land, and air campaigns fought for control of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The fighting in this theatre lasted from 10 June 1940, when Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, until 2 May 1945 when all Axis forces in Italy surrendered. However, fighting would continue in Greece – where British troops had been dispatched to aid the Greek government – during the early stages of the Greek Civil War.
The British referred to this theatre as the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre (so called due to the location of the fighting and the name of the headquarters that controlled the initial fighting: Middle East Command) while the Americans called the theatre of operations the Mediterranean Theatre of War. The German official history of the fighting is dubbed 'The Mediterranean, South-East Europe, and North Africa 1939–1942'. Regardless of the size of the theatre, the various campaigns were not seen as neatly separated areas of operations but part of one vast theatre of war.
Fascist Italy aimed to carve out a new Roman Empire, while British forces aimed initially to retain the status quo. Italy launched various attacks around the Mediterranean, which were largely unsuccessful. With the introduction of German forces, Yugoslavia and Greece were overrun. Allied and Axis forces engaged in back and forth fighting across North Africa, with Axis interference in the Middle East causing fighting to spread there. With confidence high from early gains, German forces planned elaborate attacks to be launched to capture the Middle East and then to possibly attack the southern border of the Soviet Union. However, following three years of fighting, Axis forces were defeated in North Africa and their interference in the Middle East was halted. Allied forces then commenced an invasion of Southern Europe, resulting in the Italians switching sides and deposing Mussolini. A prolonged battle for Italy took place, and as the strategic situation changed in southeast Europe, British troops returned to Greece.
The theatre of war, the longest during the Second World War, resulted in the destruction of the Italian Empire and altered the strategic position of Germany resulting in numerous German divisions being deployed to Africa and Italy and total losses (including those captured upon final surrender) being over half a million. Italian losses, in the theatre, amount to around to 177,000 men with a further several hundred thousand captured during the process of the various campaigns. British losses amount to over 300,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, and total American losses in the region amounted to 130,000.
