Les, whom we remember as one of our flamboyant pilots who flew “The Hump” for the Air Transport Command in World War II, died Feb. 2, 2008, in Greeley, Colo.
He was born in Irvington, N.J., and attended Irvington High School. At Princeton, he roomed with Doug Demler and Andy Green and was a member of the Glee Club and Gateway Club.
Les enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He served 3 1/2 years and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal for 14 months of flying vitally needed transports in the China-Burma-India theater, as a first-lieutenant pilot, over the hazardous Himalaya mountains.
He returned to Princeton to earn his bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1948, and then worked 31 years for United Air Lines, first in Denver and then Chicago, where he designed the company’s executive office and training buildings. He and his wife of almost 60 years, Darlene, who died in 2005, retired to Greeley in 1986, where he volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and Christian church groups.
Les is survived by a niece, Jeannine Pfeifer, and devoted neighbors and friends in the Greeley area. Our sincere condolences go to them all.