Civil War ☆ WWI ☆ WWII ☆ Korea ☆ Vietnam ☆ Iraq I ☆ Iraq II ☆ Afghanistan
| Name | Narrative | Branch and Rank | Unit and Specialty | Conflict/Arena | Born/Died |
| Leslie C. "Pete" Krusen, Jr. | Leslie Conard "Pete" Krusen, Jr. was born in Cooper Hospital in Camden on December 31, 1925, the son of Leslie Conard and Kathryn Malan Krusen, Sr. His family was living at 617 Delaware Avenue at the time. In 1927, his parents purchased a home at 110 Oakford, next door to Pete's grandparents home at 1117 Delaware Avenue, and became part of the Krusen family "compound". His father taught Pete how to swim. He attended Hickory Street and Walnut Street schools, skipping 4th grade, graduating in 1938, then Moorestown Friends School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook, graduating in 1943. Pete engaged in lots of local sports activities. Football, baseball, and ice hockey on Nelly’s Pond. He learned to box from Hal Horner, a friend of his dad, who had been captain of the Naval Academy boxing team. The family were serious sailors - dusters, comets a catboat, and thistles - mostly on the Delaware to summers cruising the Chesapeake aboard the "Seabat" and up the coast in the motor-sailor "Fishguts". Pete received an appointment to the Naval Academy, but was initially rejected for flat feet. He was eventually accepted to the V-12 Officers Training Program held at Penn, followed by two months at Asbury Park Pre-Midshipman School, receiving his Ensign’s Commission after four months at Northwestern Midshipman School, followed by several months of Destroyer Training School at Norfolk. He picked up his ship, the destroyer the USS Watts (DD-567) at Yokosuka Naval Base, Tokyo Bay, arriving 2 weeks after Japan's formal surrender. He served as gunnery officer and assistant navigator. He participated in Japan occupation activities. His five-ship division returned in late 1945 by way of Midway, Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and the Panama Canal, weathering a serious typhoon, arriving at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in December. In February 1946 They sailed to Charleston, While there, Pete organized a baseball team which tied for second in the local Navy League. In April he transferred off the ship, becoming the Aide to Commodore Ralph W. Hungerford, Commandant of the 16th fleet. He deactivated to the Naval Reserve in 1946 attaining the rank of Lieutant J.G. a year later. He returned to Penn's Wharton Business School for his final two years. He joined Delta Psi fraternity, and competed in football and sailing, graduating from Wharton in 1948. He landed a job at US Pipe in Burlington. Pete married Helen Argonne "Dede" Frank on February 21, 1953. In 1954, the family moved to Illinois then Kansas City because of Pete’s job promotions. In 1976 Pete took a job with McWane in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, then Sales Manager forAtlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. In 1958, they built a home near Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1988, Pete became Sales Manager for Canada Pipe Co., renting a home near Hamilton, Canada. Pete retired August 31, 1991 returning to Saylorsburg. Pete served as an enumerator for the 2000 census. Dede died on March 4, 2008. She was interred at Homet Cemetery near Wyalusing, Pennsylvania. Pete moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas in November 2014 to be near family. | US Navy, Ens US Naval Res Lt JG | USS Watts (DD-567) Asst Gunnery Officer Asst Navigator Aide to Commodore Hungerford | WWII, South Pacific, Japan, Charleston SC | 1925 - |
Updated October 30, 2023