Leonard was born on Christmas Day 1913 in Milton.
He was the son of Horace Richard, a stoker, and Emma Jane nee Newin.
Leonard had attended Milton School.
The 1939 Register shows Leonard living with his parents at 17 Bayford Road and that he was employed as a Reeler Man in the Paper Mill.
In 1941 he married Irene Phyllis ALLEN and they lived at 105 Tonge Road, Murston.
He joined the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry shortly after war started.
He arrived in Italy in March, where he was transferred to the King’s. It was reported he was leading his platoon into an Italian village when he was killed on 16th July 1944.
He is buried in Arezzo War Cemetery, Italy.
Leonard’s Commanding Officer had wrote to his wife and parents, notifying them that the village had presented the Company with a silver cross as a token of gratification of their bravery and liberating the village.
Leonard’s brothers Frederick and Sydney were in the RAF and he also had three other brothers, Horace, Alfred and Leslie, and four sisters Myrtle, Rose, Gladys and Ethel.
Leonard is also commemorated on Murston WW2 Memorial, in the church.