Guy Leefe, Jr. was born and raised in New Orleans. After graduating from Fortier High School in 1938 he began taking classes at LSU. During his senior year the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. he and the rest of his ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] group feared that they would be called up immediately but they were not. Leefe graduated in 1942 and was called to active duty in February 1943. After basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma he volunteered for flight training. He was trained in Piper Cubs, L5s and another small aircraft in Pittsburg, Kansas then returned to Fort Sill.

Guy Leefe, Jr. deployed to Italy in December 1944 with nine other pilots from his flight class but as soon as the Battle of the Bulge began on 16 December, they were transferred to the 9th Army and sent to France. After arriving in Marseilles, they went to Liege [Annotator's Note: Liege, Belgium]. Because the weather was too bad for ground vehicles, the airmen hauled wounded man from the Bulge to the 77th Evacuation Hospital near Liege. After the Bulge ended, they returned to 9th Army headquarters for the push to the Rhine River in February 1945. After Aachen was taken and the American forces were moving on Dusseldorf, Leefe flew over Aachen multiple times and witnessed the graves registration units at work. He saw them working every day while flying in and out of Maastricht [Annotator's Note: Maastricht, Netherlands] where the 9th Army headquarters was located. During this time, Leefe was flying combat missions, acting as a spotter identifying enemy tanks and infantry instead of hauling wounded. On every mission, Leefe experienced enemy fire including having his right wing tip shot off by a German 88mm on his first combat mission. All of the destruction Leefe saw on his first day really affected him.

As they advanced from Aachen to the Rhine River, Guy Leefe, Jr. and his fellow pilots would conduct regular patrols. On one patrol, they got a warning that four Me-109s [Annotator's Note: German Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter aircraft] were heading their way. The pilot flying the sector adjacent to Leefe's was shot down and killed by one of the enemy planes. Usually, the encounters Leefe had with enemy aircraft was strafing. He was strafed by a jet, an Me-163 [Annotator's Note: German Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet fighter aircraft], while landing one time. It was the first jet he had ever seen.

At Dusseldorf, the Rhine River is about the same size as the Mississippi River. Guy Leefe, Jr. and his fellow observation pilots were ordered to fly patrols over the river but they were not allowed to do any shooting. While on this patrol, a single German soldier fired his machine gun at Leefe. Leefe called in artillery and killed the guy. Leefe's primary job was acting as a forward observer for the artillery. During the crossing of the Rhine, Leefe was assigned to support the 17th Airborne Division who had jumped north of Wessel.

From the Rhine River, Guy Leefe, Jr. advanced to the Weser River. The airmen were all 21 or 22 years old and had no fear of dying. They would occasionally land and walk though towns after the infantry had passed through but before the engineers and MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] had cleared the area. While walking through Gütersloh, Germany, Leefe came across an American Army helmet with a bullet hole through both sides and photographs of a dead soldier's family. He also walked into the local post office and found a room full of German marks which the local inhabitants believed were worthless. One pilot found a 1,000,000 mark note and while they were in Salzburg, Austria after the war he was able to buy every piece of jewelry in a jewelry store with it and shipped it all home.

The Weser River is between the Rhine and Elbe Rivers. While advancing toward Berlin, Guy Leefe, Jr. and the rest of the 9th Army stopped at the Elbe River because Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: US Army General, later President of the United States Dwight David Eisenhower] felt it was pointless to suffer significant casualties taking Berlin knowing that the city was going to be handed over to the Russians anyway. While crossing the Weser River, balloons and smoke screens were used. Leefe's group lost half their planes as a result of the cables securing the balloons.

While flying hs last patrol on the Weser River one day, Guy Leefe, Jr. had an experience that made him realize how young and foolish he was. While flying over the front at three in the afternoon they broke out of the smoke into a clear beautiful day. After flying another five or ten miles, Leefe ancountered a battalion of German infantry and a battery of 88mm guns all in formation and aimed right at him. Two of the guns fired at him and hit the tail of his plane. They reported the location of the enemy positions then spotted for the Long Toms [Annotator's Note: M1 155mm artillery] as they fired at the enemy. The resulting barrage was unbelievable. The whole area was wiped out. [Annotator's Note: Leefe shows photographs he took of the destruction in the area to the interviewer.] That was the biggest action he was personally involved in during the war.

Guy Leefe, Jr. was in Lemgo, Germany when the war ended. Prior to that, Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: US Army General, later President of the United States Dwight David Eisenhower] had taken the 1st Army and 9th Army from under Montgomery [Annotator's Note: British Field Marshall Sir Bernard Law Montgomery] and put them into Bradley's [Annotator's Note: US Army General Omar Bradley] 12th Corps. For about a week near the end of the war, Leefe and five other pilots were sent north to Montgomery's headquarters where their job was to track a southbound mass of roughly a million people composed of German troops, DPs [Annotator's Note: displaced persons] and German civilians all looking to surrender to the Americans or British. When the tour was up, Leefe returned to 9th Army and went to Salzburg [Annotator's Note: Salzburg, Austria] where he and the 280th [Annotator's Note: probably the 280th Field Artillery Battalion however he later states that he was attached to the 666th Field Artillery Battalion] took control of Berchtesgaden. Leefe and his fellow airmen stayed in Salzburg in a German general's house even after an Air Force major general tried to take it over. Leefe and his fellow airmen did not have much to do after the war ended so they would fly officers from Salzburg to Vienna. There was a large castle in Passau, Germany that housed officers' and enlisted mens' clubs that was run by a guy from New Orleans. Since Leefe was also from New Orleans he would stay there as often as possible.

Guy Leefe, Jr. accumulated about 4,000 hours of flight time during his time in the service. He was discharged in February 1946 then continued to fly with the National Guard until the Korean War began. One of the guys Leefe flew with was called up for Korea and was killed in action. When Leefe was in combat he was usually attached to the 666th Field Artillery Battalion. Each field artillery battalion had two planes. If a division needed support from 155mm guns, Leefe would report to that division. It would get so cold at times that they would drain the oil out of the planes then heat it up before putting it back in the planes to keep it from freezing. To add some humor to the war, they would frequently play pranks on one of their officers.