Leach, Ernest Hunnewell

Born November 4, 1895, at Hanson, Massachusetts. Son of Reverend A. Judson and Mary Lewis Leach. Educated Reading, Massachusetts, public schools. With First National Bank of Reading, seven years. Joined American Field Service, April 14, 1917; attached Section Eighteen to September 23, 1917- Enlisted U. S. Aviation Service, October, 1917. Breveted at Tours. Killed January 21, 1918, at the Aero Instruction Centre, Issoudun, in an aeroplane accident. Buried Issoudun, Indre.

SOON after the war broke out, and while Ernest Leach was still but a lad in his teens, he faced for himself the issues at stake and decided that the cause of France was the cause of right and humanity. His financial condition was all that prevented his leaving for France. Meanwhile he did what he could. He foresaw that America must sooner or later enter the struggle, and resolved that he and his friends should be ready when the call came. In his quiet way Ernest got together a group of his companions and induced them to join him in regular cross-country hikes after business hours and on Sundays to keep themselves in good physical condition. Often their courage lagged and it was always he who spurred them on, and though they thought him too enthusiastic, they followed him nevertheless. To further prepare himself he took the regular course in infantry training at Plattsburg in the summer of 1916.

The hard work which Section Eighteen was called upon to do during the summer of 1917 around Verdun, and for which they received a divisional citation for the Croix de Guerre, only served to deepen his sense of duty and responsibility in the cause which he had always cherished, and for which he had long been preparing. He writes at this time: "Any vain curiosity that I may have had regarding war is quite dispelled; war at its best is very bad. But I am glad the United States is going to do her part to end it, and in the right way . . . . . Whichever way things turn out, I won't lose. There are worse things than losing your life in the best cause a nation ever had."

For all his serious purpose, however, he had a lively sense of humor and a buoyant youthfulness that kept him cheerful. Ernest wrote: "One of the chief reasons, ---outside the joy of living,--- for my wishing to live through this war is to see how it ends."

With the breaking up of the old volunteer Ambulance Service came the heartbreaking uncertainty as to where the greatest possibility for service lay. How he decided the issue, an extract from one of his letters shows: "It took all my will power to pick aviation as my service branch after I had seen a number of planes brought down in air fights and seen the results at close range. But I feel that if anything were going to happen to me it would happen just the same in one service as another. At least you can feel here as though you were doing your full part."

And it was his full part that Leach did. To the long task of training he gave himself with the same resolute devotion which had already characterized his work at the front. The cablegram announcing his death in an aeroplane accident, January 21, 1918, also stated that he had completed in two weeks a test which usually required a month, and that he was about to be commissioned.

The spirit in which he met his death for that cause which had long since become a part of his very soul, is suggested by his own words in a letter written but a short time before: " If I don't come back, please remember that I do this willingly and gladly. I feel that the cause is worth all of me."

That he was loved by his comrades is shown clearly by the cry of sorrow in a little poem written by Lieutenant Gilbert N. Jerome, of the Air Service, who was killed in battle in July, 1918. The loss of a brother in arms is felt poignantly in the words:

'T is but a moment since he stood
Here in our little group
And smiled and spoke,
A moment's flight, and then
He passes through the gate
That bars our view,
Leaving us desolate.

• Tribute from Memorial Volume of the American Field Service, 1921