Life Sketch of Leslie Earl Mathews

(Based in part on Life Sketch Memories section of FamilySearch entry for Leslie Earl Mathews provided by K Tervort)

Leslie Earl Mathews (service #19172386) was born in Panaca, Nevada, on 24 October 1922. He was the eldest child of Earl L. and Dora (Wadsworth) Mathews. He had one brother and three sisters. Leslie’s father, Earl, a civic leader, was Lincoln County Assessor for 15 years and later the manager of the Panaca Power and Light Company. When Leslie was 11½, his mother, Dora, died, leaving Leslie as the oldest of five small children.

Leslie graduated from Panaca grade school in May 1936 and entered Lincoln County High School the following September. Leslie was described as having a keen mind and strong sense of fairness. He was self-sacrificing, dependable, and modest (almost to a fault). He loved athletics and outdoor life. He graduated from high school (where he was a student-athlete) in 1940 and entered the University of Nevada at Reno.

Note: Leslie was first cousin and dear friend of Lafayette LeRoy Wadsworth, who also served his country and died in World War II. See Fold3 tribute to SGT Wadsworth at: https://www.fold3.com/memorial/85008073/lafayette-l-wadsworth/stories Leslie was also a high school and classmate of Joe Mezzano, who also served his country and died during World War II. See the Fold3 tribute to Joe at: https://www.fold3.com/memorial/638622169/joseph-mezzano/stories Another fellow high school student, Donald Lewis Price, also gave his life in the service. See: https://www.fold3.com/memorial/638622177/donald-l-price/stories

After being at the university for only a short time, he was called home because of the illness of his father. In November 1941, Leslie’s father, Earl, died after many years of poor health resulting from his service for the U.S. in World War I. For about a year thereafter, Leslie worked at Union Pacific Railroad, eventually moving to Las Vegas. In the fall of 1942, he continued his education at the BAC (Branch Agricultural College, now Southern Utah University) in Cedar City, Utah, where he starred as a member of BAC’s 1942 Intermountain Junior College championship basketball team. The newspaper referred to him as “the big husky player who wore number 44.”

Leslie enlisted in the Reserve Corps at college. On 15 March 1943, he was called into active service and ordered to report to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah. Leslie received training at Keesler Field, Mississippi, and Maxton Army Base, North Carolina. He attended pre-flight training but was eventually rejected as an aviation cadet because of a back injury he had suffered when a power line fell over on him when he worked for his father’s power company.

Determined to be part of a flight crew, Leslie attended Army Air Force Radio School at Scott Field, Illinois, graduating with the highest grade-point average in his class. He was then transferred to Yuma Army Air Base for gunnery school; advanced to the rank of Corporal; sent to Lenore Army Air Base; and assigned to a B-24 bomber crew.

By late 1944, Cpl. Mathews was serving in New Guinea and the Philippines as a crew member (radio operator) of B-24L-5-CO Liberator Bomber 44-41537 of the 19th Bomber Squadron, 22nd Bombardment Group (Heavy), nose art (i.e., nicknamed) the “Modest Maiden.” Starting in December 1944, the 22nd Bombardment Group, including the “Modest Maiden,” struck airfields and installations in Luzon, the Philippines.

Tragically, on 26 March 1945, the "Modest Maiden" (B-24) crashed into the side of Mount Paliwan on Biliran Island near Leyte during a routine flight in bad weather. The plane burned and the entire crew and one passenger were lost. 2LT Mathews’ body was not recovered from the crash scene. In April, Cpl. Mathews’ sister, Edna, received two telegrams from the War Department, one advising that her brother was missing and the second advising that he had been killed in a crash.

Leslie’s brother, Wesley, went to the Philippines to find his body. He could not. But he found the Manila American Cemetery (Taguig City, Philippines), where Cpl. Leslie E. Mathews’ name was etched on the Walls of the Missing, commemorating his sacrifice in perpetuity. A memorial service for Cpl. Leslie Earl Mathews was held in Panaca on 13 May 1945. He was survived by his four siblings, Wesley, Edna, Janice, and Joyce; by two half-brothers, Neldon and Douglas Mathews; and by his stepmother, Katherine Ernst. He is memorialized with a headstone (cenotaph) that says “in memory of” at the Panaca Memorial Park Cemetery, Panaca, Lincoln County, Nevada.

Sources:

GLOBAL Find A Grave Index

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56789646/leslie-earl-mathews

Find A Grave Index

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45316680/leslie-earl-mathews

Army Air Corps Library and Museum

https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/22nd_Bombardment_Group.cfm

1930 U.S. Federal Census in the Household of Earl and Dora Mathews

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/107869586:6224

1940 U.S. Federal Census in the Household of Earl and Katherine Mathews

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/375787:2442

U.S. World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/92512:4283

FamilySearch.org entry for Leslie Earl Mathews

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KWJX-V5S

U.S. Veterans’ Gravesites

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/5091433:8750

American Battle Monuments Commission

https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/mathews%3Dleslie

"This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (seewww.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

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Added by: rcrife@gmail.com

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