Career
According to Leonard"s United States. Army"s biography, then-Private first class Leonard received the Medal of Honor to recognize his valorous actions while serving as a squad leader with Company C, 30th Infantry, on November 7, 1944, near Saint Die, France. Leonard"s platoon was reduced to eight men by blistering artillery, mortar, machine-gun, and rifle power.
Leonard led the survivors in an assault over a tree-and-shrub-covered hill, continuously swept by automatic fire.
Killing two snipers at ranges of 50 and 75 yards, he disregarded bullets that pierced his back to engage and destroy a machine-gun with rifle grenades, killing its two-man crew. Despite being stunned by an exploding bazooka shell, he continued his relentless advance to knock out a second a machine-gun and capture the roadblock objective.