HE  LED  A  UNIQUE  LIFE

Louis “Lou” Lenart, a former Marine Corps pilot who flew the F4U Corsair during World War II, was never credited with a “kill” but he went on to live a unique and illustrious life.  He was born Layos Lenovitz on April 24, 1921, the son of Jewish farmers, in a small town in Hungary near the Czech border.  As a farm boy he was the regular target of anti-Semitic taunts and at the age of 10 his family immigrated to the United States to escape the prevalent anti-Semitism.  On arrival in the Pennsylvania coal mining town of Wilkes-Barre the anti-Jewish taunts continued as he arrived as a farm boy who could not speak English and he was mocked for his odd accent.  By the age of 18 he had mastered English and taken a Charles Atlas bodybuilding course.  He joined the Marine Corps in 1940 and after a year and a half of infantry training he talked his way into flight school.  In a midair training collision he was seriously injured, nearly losing his life but despite his injuries and doctors predictions, he returned to the cockpit and during World War II he flew an F4U Corsair in the battle of Okinawa and took part in numerous aerial attacks on the Japanese mainland.

After World War II Lenart learned that 14 of his relatives in Hungary, including his grandmother, had been killed by the Nazis in Auschwitz.  Thus, it took little added incentive for the ex-Marine Corps Captain to clandestinely join the effort to smuggle war planes into prestate Israel in anticipation of its struggle for independence.  Thus, in early 1948 Lenart joined the Haganah, the precursor of the Israel Defense Force, and flew a cargo plane from Italy to Israel bringing surplus war plane parts for the emerging state.  In May 1948 the State of Israel was only a week old and invading Egyptian forces were moving up the coast toward Tel Aviv.  On May 29 an estimated 10,000 Egyptians with tanks and artillery were only 16 miles south of Tel Aviv.  In a desperate move Israel unleashed its entire air force against the Egyptians.  The air force consisted of only four Czech made planes, the Avia S-199, a bastardized version of the German Messerschmitt ME-109, whose 20mm cannons fired through the rotating propeller blades in World War I fashion.  As Lenart was the most experienced pilot with combat experience he was chosen to lead the 4-plane flight.  Although the planes had just been reassembled and not thoroughly tested, and there was doubt as to whether the guns would work, the planes took to the air.  Upon attacking the Egyptian forces one of the planes was destroyed by anti-aircraft fire but the startled Egyptian army, who had been assured that Israel had no air force, was stunned into stopping its advance and retreated.  Lenard later said, “There were thousands of troops, tanks, and hundreds of trucks.  We flew lower, dropped the bombs and started shooting at anything we could spot.  The Egyptians were stunned.  It was the most important moment of my life, and I was born to be there at that precise moment in history.  I was the luckiest man in the world that my destiny brought me to that precise moment to be able to contribute to Israel’s survival.  The Arabs had everything, we had nothing.  We just didn’t have a choice.  That was our secret weapon.”  He has since been often called “The man who saved Tel Aviv” for having led the first combat mission of the Israeli Air Force.

Lenart later helped establish the Israeli Air Force 101 Squadron and flew missions to bring refugees to Israel.  Historians have written that in a long, swashbuckling career he airlifted thousands of Jewish refugees from Iraq to Israel.  He also flew commercially for El Al, Israel’s national airline.  Later he became a movie producer, dividing his time between homes in Tel Aviv and Los Angeles, and also at one time worked as the General Manager for basketball’s Clippers when they were based in San Diego.  In a 2010 ceremony at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington, D.C., where Lenart was being honored he said, “I owe so much to the United States and the Marine Corps, which gave a young Jewish immigrant sanctuary and an opportunity to excel.  This climax is beyond my wildest fantasies.” 

Lou Lenart died in Israel on July 20, 2015.  A writer described his life saying, “His life will forever be remembered as one of exceptional service and commitment to both the United States and Israel. His sacrifices and achievements are great, and I hope Lou's heroic efforts will serve as a reminder to us all that one individual can truly make a difference.”  He will be buried in a Tel Aviv cemetery.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)