Milburn Steward Lester's Obituary
MILBURN STEWARD LESTER
JULY 29, 1920 - AUGUST 24, 2015
Milburn was born in War Eagle, West Virginia on July 29, 1920. He was the 4th child of Milburn Jackson Lester and Leona Wolford Lester. His birth certificate was filed as a delayed certificate at the court house in Mingo County burned and records were lost.
In 1937 Milburn quit high school and signed up for the Navy. They called him for duty in 1939 and was sent to Norfolk VA for training. A week before leave from boot camp the war started in Europe (Sept. 1939). Everyone was immediately assigned to WWI destroyers.
President Franklin Roosevelt ordered them out on neutrality patrol. 100 miles off the Atlantic coast operating out of Boston, Mass. (Charles River). After Boston, Milburn went to a training school and then was assigned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, NY.
Milburn was then transferred to the Norfolk Navy Station where he attended radio communications school. The Communication officer selected Milburn and assigned him to the Admirals Staff for Commander of Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet. Milburn was then transferred to a destroyer tender called the
USS Denebola AD-12 in Portland, Maine around the first part of 1941.
In 1943, Milburn left New England. He transferred to the Submarine chaser training center in Miami, Fl. He remained at the Everglades Hotel for a few weeks training at the docks. He was assigned to a Submarine patrol chaser (PC-1127) out of Miami and immediately went through the Panama Canal stopping in Mexico to refuel while on the way to San Diego. The Patrol Chaser tied up next to the USS Thompson (with the Communication officer he knew back in Portland on the ship USS Denebola). Milburn wanted to transfer back to the USS Thompson and his captain finally gave him permission.
The USS Thompson patrolled back and forth across the Atlantic. They escorted a group from Plymouth, England to France waiting for the invasion. A bomb dropped near the USS Thompson but no damage was done.
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