Leon J. Neiman was born on 20 December 1924 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Neiman and his siblings were all born in the same room in the same house in Reading. His father called himself an interior decorator. Neiman attended first through eighth grade at Saint Joseph [Annotator's Note: unable to identify], and then went on to Reading High School [Annotator's Note: Reading Senior High School in Reading, Pennsylvania]. He did not complete high school due to joining the military but was given his diploma about 40 or 50 years later. He enlisted in the Marines in May 1943 because he wanted to fight the Japanese. Men in Neiman's unit in Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands] referred to Neiman as gook boy [Annotator's Note: a derogatory term referring to Asian] because he acted like the natives. Neiman was in a pool room when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He had no idea where Pearl Harbor was when he heard the news. Neiman did not feel as much animosity towards the Germans because he felt a kinship towards them. There was a very prominent German population in Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Marines with two friends. One of his friends received a furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] for his father's death during boot camp but refused to return. He was court martialed [Annotator's Note: tried by court-martial, a judicial court for trying military members for breaking military law] and put in jail. This friend later became a cook and did not see combat. During high school Neiman worked a variety of jobs, before he was called up, he was working at a steel mill. Because of a technicality in enlistment for the Marines, he was inducted, discharged, and then allowed to enlist in the Marines to avoid going to the Army.

By the second day of basic training Leon J. Neiman realized how hard serving in the military was going to be. One day during training his drill instructor instructed Neiman to charge him with his bayonet and told him to pay attention, because afterwards the drill instructor was going to do the same to him. Neiman excelled in rifle training and became a marksman. After training he was given a 30-day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] before going to Camp Lejeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina] . Neiman travelled by train to Camp Linda Vista in San Diego, California. He knew at this time that he was being sent to fight in the Pacific. In his time at Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands], Neiman caught dengue fever [Annotator's Note: mosquito-borne tropical disease]. The military transported him to a ship with hospital facilities while he was sick. Neiman traveled from San Diego to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] and from there passed the Marshall Islands and arrived in Tinian. Neiman was not a part of the initial invasion of Tinian, it was already secured by the time he got there. He thought it was a nice island, there were not any tropical diseases to worry about and it was beautiful. At this time Neiman was part of the 18th Defense Battalion. These Marines were assigned to protect what the United States took from Japan from possible counter attacks by the Japanese. In one instance they were instructed to get on their 268 radar [Annotator's Note: SCR-268, Signal Corps Radio, or Set, Complete, Radio 268 radar system] to guide an allied B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] in for landing. Tinian was not completely clear of the Japanese, there were still some enemy soldiers hiding in the cave systems there. Neiman was asked to run lines for telephones on the island. The next day, after running the line, Neiman discovered that someone had cut the line with a rock. They formed a patrol to search the island for the hidden Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese]. Neiman was given a BAR [Annotator's Note: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle; also known as the BAR], before that he had an M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. The people hidden in these caves only had grenades to defend themselves. Neiman's patrol found a position that the enemy was hiding in, so they threw grenades into the cave. The enemies in the cave began throwing their own grenades back, narrowly missing Neiman. When he looked back to his unit, they had all retreated. He ended up at a different opening in the cave system when his commanding officer found him and sent him back to base to update them on the situation. They were out of ammunition and grenades and needed backup. Eventually this particular cave was destroyed with dynamite. There was a lot of propaganda spread about the Japanese during the war.

Leon J. Neiman met the native populations of Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands] numerous times during his duty there. Many of the Chamorros [Annotator's Note: the indigenous population of the Mariana Islands] allied with the Americans, although some residents of the island were put into internment camps. Neiman recalls flamethrowers [Annotator's Note: ranged incendiary device that projects a controllable jet of fire] being used to clear enemy combatants out of caves in Tinian. He had been given a BAR [Annotator's Note: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle; also known as the BAR] to carry. During patrols Neiman's friend Reybock [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] heard rumors that the Japanese always tried to pick off the last person in the patrol, so he often tried to get ahead of Neiman, who was second-to-last in the patrol. One time on patrol Neiman's lieutenant asked him to kill three Japanese soldiers, but Neiman could not get in position, so his lieutenant took his gun from him and did it himself. Neiman had trouble killing three people face to face and found it easier to fire his weapon without a real target in mind. Returning from the war Neiman had many photos documenting killed enemy combatants. One day after looking at the pictures, he found them sickening, and threw them away. Neiman credits Harry Truman's [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] decision to drop the bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] as saving many lives. During his tenure as vice-president, Truman did not even know about the project developing the atomic bomb. Originally Neiman joined the Marines to kill Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese], but when it became more personal Neiman found it difficult to kill another person. His primary job at Tinian was to operate the 268 radar [Annotator's Note: SCR-268, Signal Corps Radio, or Set, Complete, Radio 268 radar system], and he only became involved in combat when holdout combatants began cutting communication lines on the island. His radar worked in tandem with a searchlight that would light up enemy planes. There was also a 584 radar [Annotator's Note: SCR-584, Signal Corps Radio, or Set, Complete, Radio 584 radar system]operating on the island, this radar worked with a 90 mm anti-aircraft gun [Annotator's Note: 90-millimeter Gun M1/M2/M3] to shoot down enemy planes. As a teenager Neiman just wondered what was at the end of a road in his town, but now he was seeing an entirely different part of the world.

Leon J. Neiman was at a pool room when he heard the bomb had been dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. He was at Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands] from July 1944 until August 1945. He left Tinian for Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], and after a couple of weeks of waiting an airplane flew them to Midway, and then Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii], and then finally they went to Treasure Island [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Treasure Island, San Francisco Bay, California]. Returning to the United States was a shock for the Marines who had grown accustomed to living in Tinian. They were now allowed free time, to socialize, and to drink alcohol. Neiman traveled with a Corporal named Higgins [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] from the Bronx, New York [Annotator's Note: the Bronx is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. Higgins took care of the details for various troops returning home via train. Neiman married his late wife on 1 September 1945, and the war with Japan ended on 2 September 1945. He supported Truman's [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945], as Nieman believes he could have died in a land invasion of Japan. When Neiman returned to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina] he managed the service club for non-commissioned officers. He received his discharge on 1 February 1946. He is proud to say he was a Marine. A friend of Neiman's daughter asked Neiman for memorabilia to start a museum in his house, to which Neiman contributed. He has no regrets over being in the service and feels that he learned more in the military than he would have with a college education. The experience and discipline he received from the military is something that he thinks of as invaluable.