1982-1986

CoOkinQ ·througll storms..•. (...and other sea adventure tales) '--~~~~~ ........ ~~~-

had the idea that if they could put one corpsman out of commission they ~ould be keeping ten other Americans from being patched up enough to go back to the battle fields. He found cooking a safer occupation. His office spaces at the college are decorated with souvenirs of his Navy days J and if you come by on a slow ·day or when the student body is on vacation he'll share a few sea tales with you. ''When I first went into the Navy my pay was $52 per month. My father had just died so I sent it all home except $15 a month. I got $7 one pay day and $8 the other. I was glad I could help my mother. ''The first ship I cooked and baked on was small. We had 75 enlisted men and five officers. I went to culinary school at New Port, Rhode Island. It's one of the best you can go to. It was a 15 week course when I went. ''I've been on ships with kitchens so small you couldn't cook and bake at 'the same time. I was the baker and had to bake at night and be out , in the morning so tbe cooks could make break– fast.

''I was on the aircraft carrier USS BonHomnie Richard. I believe the Navy sold it to Gillette and they made razor blades out of it. But at the end of wwil we were ferrying troops across the Pacific to San, Francisco on it. We had 10,000 men on the ship. We had a large refrigerated area where we'd start cracking eggs at 8 p.m. for the next morning's break– fast. There were three of us. We each had 10 cases of eggs. There are 300 dozen eggs per case. ' 'Then I cooked on a troop train on the San .Frfi!1s,i.sco to Noqn.1µ1, , Q~- 1ahoma, run. Same thing -- ferrying troops to sep– aration centers after the war. We had five ranges, gas fueled. We'd have to stop every 300 or 400 miles for fresh supplies. At Norman, I got out, was discharged. I was going out and set the woods on fire, but I couldn't find any matches. "My next ship was a minesweeper, out of Pen– sacola, Fla. We towed targets for the Navy pilots to bomb. I was the only cook. ---

By MARY ANN WELLS Leonard Lee can cook anything, anywhere, any– time. And you better believe it'll taste good. The same expertise that has turned out chateau– briand for the king and queen of Greece is put to work at East Central Junior College daily. Lee runs the cafeteria there. In what may appear to the casual observer as chaos in the ·colleg~ .~tfe­ teria kitchen, Lee over– sees the preparation of upwards to 1000 meals daily. Lee manages the entire complex and word of his ability has spread across the county. These days there's scarce a group or organization in Newton County that doesn't come to the East Central cafeteria for its banquets. A native of Birming– ham, Alabama, Lee learned to cook in the Navy. He went into the Navy during World War II -- in 1943. His first job was in the medical corps but he says the Japanese

''We had rough wea– ther retainers on the stoves or we'd have been chasing pots all over in rough seas. Actually in rough seas not many men get hungry. When the weather was really rough, like it gets in the North Atlantic, we'd just make soup and sand– wiches and we'd put very little soup in the bowls." Lee saw duty aboard ships as well as having shore duty for several years at San Juan, Puerto Rico. From the joys of that tropical retreat he went to Great Lakes, lli. He says, "It was out of .the fire into a snow– bank." While stationed with the Sixth Fleet in Europe, Lee cooked a festive dinner for the royal Greeks. If it was not the fanciest meal he ever cooked, it was at least the most stressful. ''Every– thing had to be perfect." Often his duty in the Navy was to train new cooks and food manage– ment personnel.

Lee's last duty with the Navy was at the Navy's research facilities in Bay– onne, N.J., where all the Navy's recipes are made. In 1964 when he got out of the service he found ready employment in ci– vilian life doing much the same type of ·work for Campbell's and Mrs. Paul's that he had done for Uncle Sam. He has been on the job at East Central since December 1965. And yes, the students complain about his cooking, but he says if they didn't some– thing would be wrong \with them.

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