Did you know that the first Tennessean to be killed in World War II was from Lawrence County?

Private Leland V. Beasley was a 1936 graduate of Loretto High School. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Beasley, Leland joined the army air corps in the autumn of 1939 and became a mechanic in the 42nd Bombardment Squadron.

In March 1940, he was stationed at Hickam Field, Hawaii, which is the air field closest to Pearl Harbor.

Private Beasley was killed when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was one of nine casualties from the 42nd Bombardment Squadron, and one of 2,403 American servicemen killed in that attack.

The December 12, 1941 edition of ‘The Tennessean’ declared that Beasley was the “State’s First War Casualty.”

Private Beasley’s body was initially interred at Schofield Barracks, near Pearl Harbor. But in 1947, his remains were disinterred and moved to the Nashville National Cemetery, where he is buried in plot 1, grave number 181.