LIVONIA — Chuck Leman was a hero in life and now he is a hero in death.
Leman died last month at the age of 101, having given his all – to his country as a WWII veteran and prisoner of war, to the city of Detroit as a renowned urban planner and landscape architect, to his friends and family as a devoted husband and father, and finally, to strangers in need as an organ donor.
“That’s who Dad was – quietly giving his whole life,” said Chris Leman, Chuck’s son. “He wasn’t one to go around beating his chest about his accomplishments and what he did. His virtue was expressed quietly and beautifully. He showed us the way and we appreciate that.”
Chuck Leman grew up on an Illinois farm during the Great Depression and was drafted into the Army in February 1943, a few weeks shy of his 19th birthday.
He spent quite a bit of time training and was about to begin flight training when the call came that more infantry was needed in Europe.
Leman fought in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 in Belgium with the U.S. Army’s 75th Division, 289th Regiment and was shot in the neck. He also took a grazing bullet wound to the head. He was on patrol with a group of soldiers when they were captured by the Germans on Christmas Day.
He and his fellow prisoners of war were interrogated, with Leman giving only his rank and serial number. They were forced to march across Belgium and the Rhine River to Germany in what was one of the coldest winters on record, starving and enduring frost bite while repairing German rail lines bombarded by the Allies between encampments.
Leman lost toes and many friends in the harsh conditions. He and his fellow survivors’ march ended at the Hammelburg prison camp, from which they were liberated by one of General George S. Patton’s squadrons in the spring of 1945.
When Leman returned home to Roanoke, Illinois, he weighed around 100 pounds, but he regained his health with the help of his mother’s amazing home-cooked chicken dinners, Chris Leman said.
Chuck Leman was honorably discharged in 1945, having been awarded two Purple Hearts. He went on to attend Iowa State University, marry Dorothy, his high school sweetheart, with whom he had three children, and after stints in Nashville and New York City, made his way to Detroit to co-found a landscape architecture and urban planning company, shaping communities across Michigan.
He and Dorothy lived in Farmington Hills for many years before moving to an assisted living facility in Livonia, where Dorothy still resides in good health, although missing her husband of 77 years, Chris Leman said.
Chuck Leman was a loving father, he added, a man of integrity who believed in hard work, and putting his family and others first.
When he died Oct. 6, he still had one more gift to give.
Chris Leman, who lives in Idaho, said shortly after his father passed, he got a call from Gift of Life, expressing their condolences, and asking if the Leman family would be interested in donating Chuck’s skin tissue.
Chris Leman was surprised due to his father’s age. It is a reaction that Gift of Life Michigan CEO Dorrie Dils understand. She said Chuck Leman is a great example of living longer in a healthy way that enabled him to still be a donor at more than 100 years old.
“They said his tissue could help burn victims and we knew that was Dad’s wish, so we said, ‘Yes, of course,’” Chris Leman said.
Now Chuck Leman has shared the gift of life with up to 75 strangers through skin tissue donation that will help those healing from burns and other wounds.
“It is a remarkable story, the life he led and that he was a donor,” Dils said. “He lived a life of service and he did that in his death as well.”
Contact reporter Susan Bromley at sbromley@hometownlife.com or 517-281-2412.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Michigan World War II veteran, former POW, dies at 101, with one final act of service
Reporting by Susan Bromley, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
