Leon Seale, Jr.

LEON CLINTON SEALE JR.
MOUNDVILLE - Leon Clinton Seale, Jr., age 91, of Moundville, Ala., died February 26, 2018, at Hospice of West Alabama. Services will be 11 a.m. Friday, March 2, 2018, at Moundville United Methodist Church with Brother Chuck Weaver officiating. Burial will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery with Magnolia Chapel Funeral Home South directing. Visitation will be one hour prior to services at the church.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Leon Clinton Seale, Sr. and Louise Callahan Seale and sister, Mary Frances Seale.
Survivors include his wife, Satoko Morikawa Seale of Moundville, Ala.; daughters, Kathleen Riley of Anchorage, Alaska; Mariko Savage (Greg) of Parkland, Fla.; Emiko Seale of Los Angeles, Calif.; Mikiko Edwards (Brian) of Birmingham, Ala.; sons, Leon Seale, III (Sandra) of Lakeland, Fla., Charles Seale of Atlanta, Ga., Douglas Seale (Leslie) of Decatur, Miss., and Danny Seale (Billie) of Petal, Miss.; sisters, Dot Ellis and Patty Elliott; brother, Don Seale; 10 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Leon's passion for flying began during an elementary school field trip to Maxwell Field. A few years later during high school, Leon passed flight school testing and volunteered for service in the U.S. Army in 1944. After graduating from high school in 1945 and subsequent completion of basic training at Camp Shelby, Leon boarded a ship bound for the Pacific Theater and found himself in the Philippines where he assisted with post-war efforts and had the honor of being a member of General MacArthur's C-54 maintenance crew. After WWII, he returned home where he continued service in the Reserves while waiting on the next flight training opportunity. As tensions on the Korean peninsula increased, pilot training opportunities once again became available and in 1950, Leon enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and reported for pilot training in San Angelo, Texas. During the Korean War, 1st Lt. Seale logged nearly 1,000 combat and combat support hours in B-26, F-80, F-84, and F-86 aircraft. After the Korean War, Leon continued to serve in the USAF with duty assignments in Japan; Valdosta, Ga., San Antonio, Texas, and Del Rio, Texas. He spoke most fondly of his time flying the F-94C while serving as a squadron commander of the all-weather interceptor fighter wing at Moody AFB in Valdosta, Ga. In 1967, Capt. Seale volunteered for service in the Vietnam War where he completed 42 combat support missions and served as Base Operations Officer at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, at that time one of the busiest air bases in the world. He also served as Base Operations Officer at Laughlin, Lackland, and Tachikawa Air Bases. Leon flew more than 4,000 hours during his military career in the F-86, F-84, F-94C, C-54, C-47, B-26, T-33, T-37, U3A, and other aircraft earning a Command Pilot rating. Awards and decorations include the Air Medal with one oak leaf cluster, AF Commendation Medal, AF Outstanding Unit Award with one oak leaf cluster, and additional individual and unit awards. After retiring from the Air Force in 1969 with 25 years of service, Leon continued to fly privately until he was 84 years old. A graduate of Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science in History, he enjoyed tinkering with anything that had an engine, retelling war stories, gardening and spending time with his family.
Pallbearers will be Leon Seale, III, Charles Seale, Douglas Seale, Danny Seale, Kirk Erickson, Glenn Gillespie, Greg Savage and Brian Edwards.

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