Lee P. Ebner, born May 22, 1919, Pineville, KY, and enlisted in the USN
at Louisville, KY in September 1940. He was sent to the USNTS Great
Lakes. After five weeks he was shipped to Seattle, WA, to go aboard
USS West Virginia. During the Pearl Harbor attack he was on the signal
bridge. Then he was assigned to the destroyer USS Mahan where he saw
action in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. After the Santa Cruz air
battle he left the Mahan on Dec. 7, 1942, for the destroyer Frankford and
six months duty in the Atlantic, making two crossings. Then he was
assigned to the destroyer Newcomb and back to the Pacific for action in
Saipan, Peleliu, Leyte Gulf, Luzon, Iwo Jima and the night torpedo attack
in Surigao Straits. At Okinawa the Newcomb was destroyed by five suicide
planes. Still at Okinawa he was assigned to the destroyer Richard P.
Leary and then to the destroyer Tender Dixie at Leyte. After the war he went to the USS Rockwall, taking part
in the two Atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. He was discharged Nov.
15, 1946. He attended the Louisville Art Center, 1947-48; Chicago
Academy of Fine Arts, 1949-50; worked for B.F. Goodrich Co., 1951-52; and
for 32 years was a staff artist for the Louisville Courier Journal and The
Louisville Times. He taught cartooning for eight years at Bellermine
College, Louisville and taught cartooning and gave talks at Louisville
high schools. He and his wife, Wanda Rhea (Jenkins) have two children
and one grandson.
Reprinted with permission from Turner Publishing. |