US Navy Veteran, 1912 - 1921. Leo was an enlisted Chief Quartermaster, and promoted to ensign in the US Naval Reserve Force during World War One. During the war he served on USS Arizona and USS Saranac, a mine layer of Mine Squadron One in the North Atlantic, based at Inverness, Scotland. When he was 11, Leo saved his two-year old sister, Marcella, in a house-fire that killed their mother.

Named after one of his mother's brothers, Leo was born in Mankato, Minnesota, to Roman and Barbara (Kiffe) Hund. His mother was a second generation German immigrant and his father was born in Strassburg in the state of Baden. Roman Hund emigrated to America in 1878 when he was eighteen, arriving in New Orleans, but soon moving to St. Louis, where there was a large German-immigrant population and he learned his trade as a butcher.

A few years later, Roman made his way to Blue Earth County, Minnesota, where his uncle, Michael Hund, was already established. Roman and Barbara were married at the Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Mankato in 1886. Their first of eight children, daughter Julia, was born the next year, with Leo following in December the year after that. Clara and Andrew were born in 1890 and '92. The family had a comfortable life with the income from Roman's meat market. He was respected and well-liked citizen in the community and active in the Catholic church.

The family moved to nearby Mapleton, Minnesota in 1893, when Roman bought a meat market there. Justin was born the next year, followed by Joseph the year after. They lost one child, a boy born in 1897, who died a few months after birth. Their last child, Marcella, was born in August 1898, the month Spain surrendered in the Spanish American War. On the evening of July 3, 1900, 11-year old Leo was horsing around with his brothers and sisters upstairs in their home. They were eagerly anticipating the next day's Independence Day festivities in their close-knit town of mostly naturalized and first generation German-Americans. Barbara had put her youngest, 23-month-old Marcella, to bed. But hearing the commotion from her older brothers and sisters, the toddler came out of her bedroom. Unnoticed by the other children, she knocked over a lit kerosene lamp, and flames quickly ignited the oil spilled on the floor.

Reacting immediately and yelling at the others to get out, Leo slid Marcella down the stairs into a clothes basket, and to safety, as the rest of the children escaped the house. Barbara became frantic when she did not see her toddler, Marcella, outside and mistakenly believing the girl was still in the house, ran back inside, where flames on the burning stairway ignited her long dress and completely engulfed her body. She would have perished on the spot, if Roman had not arrived home just then and ran into the house and up the burning stairs to save her. As he tried to extinguish the flames on Barbara's burning dress, she broke free and ran through the house to the back porch. She flung herself over a railing and into a barrel of water, extinguishing the flames. Roman himself was badly burned on his arms and face. Neighbors across the street had seen the flames through the windows, and ran over to help extinguish the fire. The damage was limited to the stairway and the area where the lamp fell.

Three doctors tried to save Barbara Hund; who remained conscious and talking to her husband the entire time. The pain became agonizing during the last hour of her life, as the doctors did what they could to lessen her suffering, before she passed away around 2 a.m. on the Fourth of July, 1900. Roman never remarried, and the great tragedy of his life haunted him the rest of his days. Relying on his oldest, 13-year old Julia and 11-year old Leo, Roman raised his eight children without a wife and mother, while operating his meat market with the help of his boys, led by Leo. At one time, Roman was elected mayor of Mapleton, MN.

In the 1904 Mankato city directory, 15 year-old Leo is listed as a "meat cutter" working at his father's meat market, "Poultry, Sausages a Specialty, Oysters in Season, Highest Price for Hides and Furs. CITIZENS TEL. 11". In the 1905 Minnesota State Census, he is listed with the occupation of "assistant butcher" in his father's shop. While working in his father's shop, Leo attended Mapleton High School and graduated around 1906. He is listed in the 1908 city directory, still working at his father's meat market as a "cutter." In the 1910 Mankato city directory, next to Leo's name appear the words, "moved to New York City". From 1910 to 1912, Leo worked for the N.Y. Railroad Co. as a tally clerk in Manhattan, keeping track of inventoried shipments. During this time, he completed a course in electronics and telegraphy through the National Telegraph Institution in Cincinnati, Ohio.

On July 22, 1912, 23 year-old Leo enlisted in the Navy at New York City for four years. He designated his father as next of kin, and his youngest sister, Marcella, as his beneficiary. During this time, he was stationed aboard several ships, including the USS Constellation, and the battleships Tennessee and Wisconsin. He was aboard Tennessee when it was dispatched to Turkey in December 1912 for several months to protect American citizens and property during the First Balkan War. He served with the Atlantic Destroyer Flotilla from 1913 to 1916, first aboard the destroyer USS Duncan , where he advanced to quartermaster 3rd class, and later was Signal Quartermaster aboard the USS Dixie, then flagship for the flotilla Commander, Admiral William Sims . Men in the Quartermaster rating handle navigation and pilot navy ships. On St. Patrick's Day, 1916, while serving on the destroyer tender USS Melville, Leo qualified as a small arms marksman at the naval rifle range at Guantanamo, Cuba, shooting a score of 211. On April 1, 1916, he was appointed a quartermaster second class (QM2c). Completing his four-year enlistment on July 21, 1916, Leo was honorably discharged to return to civilian life in New York City, but not for long. On April 6, 1917, America entered World War I and on May 2nd, 28-year-old Leo reported to the Naval Training Station at Newport, Rhode Island as part of the Naval Reserve Force (USNRF).

Promoted to Chief Quartermaster, he remained at Newport in the Second Naval District headquarters until August, when he was assigned to the Naval Training camp at Newport for two months, followed by six weeks at the Navy Rifle Range at Wakefield, Massachusetts, after which he was assigned back to naval district headquarters at Newport. Leo was temporarily promoted to ensign on December 27, 1917, remaining attached to the office of the commandant of the Second Naval District until January 17, 1918, when he was again attached to the Naval Training Camp at Newport for three-months. On January 13, the Commanding Officer of the Training Camp had wrote the Commandant of the Second Naval District at Newport, "It is requested that L.G. Hund, CQM, USNRF, be re-assigned to duty at the Training Camp after receiving his commission. This man has been in the Training Camp for several months and understands the organization. In view of the shortage of Officers and competent instructors, it would be a decided loss if he is assigned elsewhere after being commissioned."

On April 9, 1918, Ensign Leo Hund wrote the Commandant of the Second Naval District, "I respectfully request that I be transferred, if possible to a ship in the War Zone. I reported for active duty on May 2, 1917, was assigned to duty with the Reserve Training Regiment, at Newport, R.I. where I have served as Signal Instructor, Company Commander, Adjutant, Officer of the Day, and since January 1, 1918, as Executive Officer. I have served four (4) years in the U.S. Navy..." In response to Leo's request, on April 17, he was detached to service on the battleship, USS Arizona (BB-39), which had been commissioned 18 months earlier. Arizona was sunk at Pearl Harbor twenty-three years later on December 7, 1941. Arizona is the final resting place for the nearly 1,200 men of her crew that died that day and the iconic ship most closely associated with "Pearl Harbor" and the beginning of America's fight in WW II. At his detachment from the Second Naval District to sea duty, his commanding officer wrote, "To Ensign Hund's efforts is largely due the present standard of discipline in the Second Naval District Receiving Barracks. His detachment is a decided loss to the camp."

Eight days after Leo reported to the USS Arizona, his youngest sister, Marcella, who had married the year before, gave birth to her first child, a boy. She and her husband, Paul Gehrig, a telegrapher for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific ("Milwaukee Road") railroad at Watson, Minnesota, and Navy radioman during WW I, named the boy "Leo", after the uncle that had saved his mother's life eighteen years earlier. Two years later, Marcella named her first born daughter, "Barbara", after her own mother, who died believing she was saving her. A rheumatic heart condition kept Leo's namesake nephew Leo Joseph Gehrig, from combat duty in World War II. He graduated from the University of Minnesota and went on to attend medical school there, joining the uniformed corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (U.S.P.H.S.) in 1945. His first assignment was to establish sanitariums to treat tuberculosis patients in Alaska, then a U.S. territory. He then went to Boston for thoracic (chest) surgery training and beginning in 1951, spent five years as chief of thoracic surgery at the Public Health Service (PHS) hospital at Staten Island, NY. While there, he took a three-month assignment as "ship's doctor" on the USCGC Eagle, where the grateful crew presented him with a magnificent hand- made model of the ship. In 1955, he became the deputy chief of surgery at the PHS hospital in Seattle.

From 1957 and for 4 years, Leo Gehrig assumed the role of deputy chief of Division of Hospitals in Washington, DC., prior to his selection in 1962 by Sargent Shriver, President John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law and first director of the newly created Peace Corps to be that organization's first medical director, responsible for the health and well-being of the thousands of volunteer Peace Corps workers across the globe. In 1966, Leo Hund's namesake and nephew was selected by his former classmate from the University of Minnesota, U.S. Surgeon General William H. Stewart, to be his Deputy Surgeon General, where Leo Gehrig served until 1970, retiring from the commissioned corps of U.S.P.H.S. with the rank of rear admiral.

Leo Hund was stationed on the USS Arizona for five months where he commanded one of the 5- inch gun crews. Being one of the Navy's newest battle-wagons, Arizona was deemed too valuable a naval asset to risk an Atlantic crossing and the the threat of a U-boat attack, and so the ship was used to train gun crews on armed merchant vessels. Assigned to Battleship Division 8 operating out of the York River, shortly after the war began, eight of her 22 5-inch guns (the four guns farthest forward and the stern-most four guns) had been removed to equip merchant ships. When the ship sailed near the wreck of the old San Marcos (ex-Texas), the wreck was sometimes used as a target for the 14-inch guns. Arizona rarely ventured into the ocean for fear of U-boats, and when she did, it was only in the company of other battleships and escort ships. On September 16, Leo finally got his assignment to a ship in the War Zone that he had requested, when he was detached to the Commander Mine Force One and ordered overseas to the USS Saranac. For the duration of the war, Leo was one of 18 officers and 392 enlisted men on the Saranac, the former Old Dominion Steamship Company "Hamilton", that had been temporarily converted to a mine-layer. Because of his prior service as a rated quartermaster enlisted man, Leo was assigned to the "N division", the ship's navigation division, where he was second in command under the ship's navigator. Saranac served off the coast of Scotland and laid nearly 4,800 mines between April and October 1918, one of the ten-American mine-layers of Mine Force One that along with British mine-layers laid tens of thousands of mines known as the "North Sea Barrage". As one Navy historian wrote of the operations:

"The men who created this mine barrier were unsung heroes. They overcame a number of issues, most notably the difficulty getting sufficient numbers of personnel for this service. According to Rear Admiral Daniel Mannix, then a lieutenant commander commanding one of the mine-layers, volunteers were few because the mines were filled with a 'new and terrible explosive' (TNT), which terrified many, and because Navy men disliked mine-laying on principle, referring to it as 'rat-catching,' and observed that in battle you might surrender but if a mine on a mine-layer exploded 'you made a hole in the water that…took three months to fill up. . . . ' The mines were lined up on rails, the number depending on the size of the mine-layer, and were pushed manually toward the 'barn door' opening in the stern of the launching deck. As a compartment emptied, the doors to it closed, and doors on another compartment opened, the moveable section of mine track adjusted, and the mines in that compartment were hauled out. When a planter had dropped all its mines, another planter steamed alongside and quickly took its station. On average, the planters dropped a mine every four to twelve seconds and the entire drop took four to seven hours."

"This feat was accomplished despite the fact that equipment was substandard. The flagship of the squadron was a former cruiser built in 1890 (USS San Francisco). USS Quinnebaug (sister-ship of USS Saranac) was a typical minelayer: a 'frail' old ex-merchantmen with 'completely shot' engines. On at least two occasions, Quinnebaug's cargo deck spontaneously burst into flame because the ship's ventilation system did not work well enough to remove gas fumes. The weather and sea conditions could be abysmal. Fog, recalled one officer, was a 'major problem,' but 'we handled that pretty well, keeping in formation by means of towing spars and very skillful handling of ships.' The expeditions also encountered high winds, rain, and rough seas."

"There was also the ever-present danger of a German attack. The mine-layers dodged torpedoes and German mines while wondering when the German fleet might sally against them. Always in the back of their minds was the question that should one of the mine-layers be torpedoed with mines aboard and 'blown to atoms, would the explosion detonate mines on the other ships and all of them go up together?' Luckily, that question was never answered."

Following the armistice, Saranac visited Scapa Flow, the protected anchorage in the Orkney Islands off Scotland, where Leo and his shipmates witnessed first-hand the sight of the once-formidable German high-seas fleet as it lay at anchor, interned by the Allied victors. Saranac returned to the United States in January 1919. On the night of January 17 at 130 am, while the ship was anchored at Hampton Roads, Virginia, having offloaded her mines the previous day, a fire broke out in the wardroom of the Saranac, the area where Leo and the other officers ate their meals. During the first hour the fire spread so rapidly on the ship, largely constructed of wood, that it was reported the sleeping officers had to make their escape in their night clothes, losing most of their personal effects. Leo himself, lost his enlistment and officer commission papers in the fire and likely other items. The men in the engine room were barely able to attend the pumps without suffocation. As the fire was confined to the wardroom and living quarters in "officers' country", fire crews responding to fight the fire, notably three boats dispatched from the destroyer tender USS Vestal and from the minelayer and troop transport, USS Canonicus that were anchored nearby, took positions on the boat deck to fight the fire. It was necessary to break through the wooden deck and skylights to lead the fire-hoses through. Other men took positions around the lower deck next to the wardroom, breaking through windows and doors to lead in the fire lines. By 315 am, the fire was completely extinguished, and at 325 am the fire-fighting crews from the other ships headed back to their vessels. More than 70 crewmen from the Vestal and Canonicus were commended by the Secretary of the Navy for their actions, many of whom were not regular members of the fire and rescue parties but volunteers.

Then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, recognized officers and men of the Saranac who had fought the fire that night and had been commended by the Commander of Mine Force One. In a letter dated 14 March 1919 to the commanding officer of Saranac with the subject title, "Approbation of the conduct of officers and men of the SARANAC during a fire on that vessel, 17 January 1919", FDR wrote:

"1. The Department is in receipt of the report from the Commander, Mine Squadron One, dated 10 February 1919 in regard to the fire that broke out on that vessel about 1:30 am, 17 January 1919, at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The fire, which did considerable damage to the ship's superstructure and for a time threatened also to destroy the interior structure, occurred while the ship was riding at anchor to a fresh breeze with many of the crew absent on leave or liberty. Part of the fire hose was triced up after scrubbing. The inflammable nature of the materials composing the part of the ship effected, (sic) caused a dense smoke to be given off, which made work in the vicinity very difficult. 2. The following extract from the above report concerning the conduct of the officers and men is quoted for the information of those concerned: 'The conduct of all officers and men was exemplary, and certain ones were conspicuous for their coolness, gallantry and devotion to duty as follows:

"(e) Ensign John F. Corrigan, USNRF, Communications Officer, acted with great promptitude and diligence in securing the ship's papers. Under his direction, the motor boats were got alongside. Communication and Captain's safes were ripped out and together with the files and records from the Captain's Office, Ship's Office, Pay Office and Communications Office were loaded in the boats and sent under guard to the CANONICUS. Ensign Corrigan was most ably seconded by his Assistant, Ensign Leo G. Hund, USNRF."

While most people live their lives never having to face a life-threatening fire, it was the second time that Leo Hund escaped bodily injury or death by fire, while distinguishing himself in saving other people or property. Fortunately, he did not face a third trial by fire during his life.

Leo was discharged to the Naval Reserves as a provisional ensign Class 4 on April 1, 1919, where he continued to periodically drill and report as a reservist through the end of his second four-year enlistment in July 1921. For the next four years, through July 1925, Leo remained in the inactive reserve, and did not report for any training or drills. Following the war, he resumed civilian life in New York City where he worked for the city rail transit for a few years. Leo married Nora E. Phillips, a clerk typist and Georgia native, at Manhattan on April 15, 1926. Per the 1930 census, Leo and Nora were living in an apartment at 1290 Ocean Ave., in Brooklyn NY. Leo was then employed as a "biscuit salesman" and Nora was a typist for "Carbon Products". By 1933, a Brooklyn city directory, showed him working for the U.S. Postal Service in Manhattan as a registry clerk and living at 900 E. 18th St., Apt 2D in Brooklyn. Leo and Nora moved to Queens, NY in 1936, where they bought a home at 141-08 Coolidge Ave. in Flushing. Per the 1940 census, Leo was "chief clerk" at the Manhattan Post Office, while Nora was a secretary for the NY Labor Commission. Their neighbor a few doors down, at 139-01 Coolidge, was the radio actor Ray Collins, who later in his career gained fame as "Lt. Tragg" on the original Perry Mason TV series.

In his WW2 draft card, filled out in 1942, Leo listed his employment as the Registry Division of the US Post Office located at 8th Ave. and 33rd St. in Manhattan. Built in 1912, the year Leo joined the Navy, the massive post office building is known today as the James A. Farley Building in honor of the U.S. Postmaster General under FDR from 1933 to '40. Located across from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, the building with its massive Corinthian colonnade was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996. The famous words, often taken to be the unofficial motto of the US Postal Service, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" are engraved on the building's facade facing Penn Station.

During WW II, Leo was active as an air raid warden in his Queens neighborhood and maintained a first aid station in the garage of his Coolidge Ave. home. We can reasonably assume that Leo's resolve to be active in civil defense during the Second World War was at least partly a consequence of USS Arizona, his ship during the First World War, being destroyed by the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Nora was fluent in French and also worked as a French teacher. The couple never had children, but maintained a showcase home, where they enjoyed entertaining friends and family that visited New York City.

In his late- 50's, Leo suffered a serious fall as he was on his way to catch the subway to work. While recovering from that, doctors discovered he had advanced stage cancer. He died at home on January 4, 1948 at age 59 following a long battle with the disease. Nora remained alone for years in the house in Queens that she and Leo shared on Coolidge Ave., until advanced age forced her to enter a senior care facility. When she was in her early 80's, she returned to the South, where she lived with a niece and her family, passing away at the age of 89 in 1984 at Ridgeland, South Carolina, where she is buried.