Leon Baccus joined the U.S. Navy in 1940 because he figured sooner or later America would get caught up in the war Hitler was raging in Europe, and the Navy seemed the best way to stay safe.
His strategy was not entirely successful.
Instead, Baccus ended up surviving the sinking of the USS Lexington, and later diving into a muddy foxhole in Guadalcanal.
Just before Memorial Day, Baccus sat in the comfortable living room of his Bozeman condo and shared his memories of what many have called “the good war.”
At age 87, he walks a little slowly on artificial knees. Yet his blue eyes and his memory are still sharp.
Baccus had just graduated from high school in Cheyenne, Wyo., when he and a buddy signed up with the Navy, hoping to be sent to the West Coast, far from bloody Europe.
“I didn’t like the idea of sleeping in a trench somewhere in France,” Baccus said.
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