Osmund A. Leahy

Osmund Alfred Leahy (31 August 1915 – 9 December 1989) was a retired United States Army major general. He was a highly decorated airborne infantry leader during World War II. Leahy later commanded II Corps and the 7th Infantry Division.

Early life and education

Leahy was born and raised in Oswego, New York along with three brothers and three sisters. His father was a merchant. He graduated from high school in 1934 and, unable to afford the tuition at Cornell University, enlisted in the United States Navy on 14 August 1934. After two years of service on a destroyer in the Atlantic, he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy. He graduated from West Point with a B.S. degree in engineering in June 1940. Leahy then attended the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia from August to November 1940.

During World War II, Leahy graduated from the Command and General Staff School in April 1943. He later graduated from the Army War College in July 1956 and earned an M.S. degree in public administration from George Washington University in 1968.

Military career Leahy was initially assigned to the 38th Infantry at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. In 1942, he was transferred to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Leahy was promoted to major in January 1943 and then served with the division in North Africa. He participated in the invasion of Sicily and then in the landings at Salerno, Italy.

Promoted to major general in 1967, Leahy served as commanding general of II Corps at Fort Wadsworth, New York. In 1968, he served as commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division in South Korea. Leahy then became head of the Institute of Land Combat at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. They had two daughters, two sons and four grandchildren. After her death, he married Patricia Marilyn (Strand) Dorn (11 September 1925 – 28 October 2009), who had also been widowed, in December 1971.

In 1972, Leahy and his second wife moved to Bethesda, Maryland. In 1988, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. After apparently successful treatment, they moved to Chevy Chase. Leahy subsequently developed an inoperable, malignant brain tumor and died at a nursing home in Bethesda in 1989. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on 13 December 1989.