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LEO B. PURDIN


(courtesy of Will Babb)

Sapulpa Rites for Leo Purdin

Funeral services for Leo Babb Purdin, 25, lifelong Sapulpan who was killed in an auto accident Sunday two miles north of Marland, were to be held at 2pm today in the Presbyterian church here.

Purdin and another summer school student at Oklahoma A&M college, Paul R. Martindale of Blackwell, were returning from Stillwater to Blackwell when the accident occurred. Martindale apparently went to sleep at the wheel. He suffered fractured legs. Purdin was killed instantly.

Purdin was graduated from Sapulpa High School where he lettered in basketball and tennis before joining the armed forces in 1943. He was a member of the 82nd Airborne division and participated in the aerial invasion of Holland in World War II.

He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge and wore the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. After returning from service, he enrolled at A&M college where he was a senior student in forestry at the time of his death.

He and Martindale were members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and both worked at night at a Stillwater café.

Purdin was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Wade Purdin, Sapulpa. A brother, Leon Purdin, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and his grandmother, Mrs. Lilly Babb, Yukon, also survive.

Tulsa Tribune, August 29, 1950

Leo enlisted in the Army at Tulsa, OK on 16 September 1943.

Pvt Purdin went though basic training and jump school before being sent to England.  On 10 August 1944 he was transferred from the 11th Reinforcement Depot to the Headquarters Company 1st Battalion, 508th PIR.

Pfc Purdin was wounded in action on 7 February 1945 in Belgium and received the Purple Heart.  He was also awarded the Bronze Star Medal, thought to have been for actions during the Operation Market-garden campaign..

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