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William Andrew Lee (1900 - 1999)

Personal
William Andrew Lee was born on November 12, 1900 in Ward Hill, Massachusetts to Benjamin Rufus Lee and Eda Gustava Lee (nee Peterson).

He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1918 at age 17.

World War I
Upon enlisting in the Marine Corps near the end of World War I, Lee sailed to France to fight in the war.

World War II - Prisoner of War
Quote for WaPoObit "he was dispatched to North China as a chief gunner with the "Horse Marines" mounted infantry. On the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Imperial Army troops captured Col. Lee and 200 other Marines in North China and held them prisoner for nearly four years. The prisoners were rescued after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Col. Lee spent a month recovering at hospitals in Hawaii, then returned to the Quantico Marine Corps Base"

Retirement & death
He retired as a colonel in 1950.

His first wife, Helen Lloyd Lee, died.

Lee died of cancer on December 27, 1998 at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was survived by his second, Anne Bradbury Lee and four daughters. Lee is buried in Quantico National Cemetery.

Honors and awards
Quote from WaPoObit: "In 1992, the Marine Corps named a $5.5 million rifle range at Quantico in Col. Lee's honor. At the ceremony, Col. Lee, then 91, fired an M-16 rifle and hit nine moving targets. "