Blake Wayne Van Leer (January 13, 1926 – October 3, 1997) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

officer who commanded the naval construction Battalion

Seabee United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

s during World War II and the Vietnam War. He led the expansion of

submarine-launched ballistic missile A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from Ballistic missile submarine, submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which ...

programs and the

OMEGA Navigation System Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...

used for communication to the U.S. submarine fleet. He received the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

award and the Moreel Medal for outstanding contributions to military engineering. He was the son of

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

president Blake R. Van Leer and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

activist

Ella Lillian Wall Van Leer Ella Lillian Wall Van Leer (''née'' Ella Lillian Wall; November 11, 1892 – August 8, 1986) was an American artist and architect, women's rights activist, and the first woman to serve in an office of the American Legion in California. She was ...

Early life and education

Van Leer was born in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, on January 13, 1926, to Blake R. Van Leer, a colonel and university president, and

, a technologist and principal draftswoman in the Quartermaster general's research department. He was a member of the influential Van Leer family. Van Leer attended

Needham B. Broughton High School Needham B. Broughton High School (commonly known as Broughton High School) is one of thirty-two high schools in the Wake County Public School System. It is located at 723 St. Mary's Street, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Broughton was ...

, studied at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

, and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. He received a civil engineering degree from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

, graduated from the

Joint Forces Staff College The Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC), located in Norfolk, Virginia, was established as the Armed Forces Staff College in 1946 and incorporated into the National Defense University in August 1981. It educates and acculturates joint and multinat ...

, and received a master's degree in civil engineering from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Military service

In 1943, Van Leer enlisted in the Navy and quickly rose to the rank of a Lieutenant Commander and

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

of the construction Battalion known as the

s. As a commander, Van Leer led numerous engineering projects for the Navy during the Vietnam War and was promoted to

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. This same year he personally lead the expansion of the Polaris Weapons System and

Ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their nuclear deterrence capabi ...

program expansion. Van Leer also complemented this program with an extensive Naval base expansion in Charleston, SC. In 1969, Van Leer received the Moreell Medal for outstanding contribution to military engineering. Captain Blake Van Leer

Later in 1969, Van Leer created the well-known Seabee "STINGER" system (Seabee Tactical Installed Navy Generated Engineering Resource), which is designed to quickly facilitate the development of troops, construction, and resources efficiently during wartime. In 1970, Van Leer was assigned to Fegley Glacier to lead the nuclear research and power unit at

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is an American Antarctic research station on the southern tip of Ross Island. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is ...

during

Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze is the code name for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There was an init ...

. Van Leer lead the construction and opening of Naval Radio Transmitter Facility LaMoure, which uses a former

station as a

VLF Very low frequency or VLF is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 3–30 kHz, corresponding to wavelengths from 100 to 10 km, respectively. The band is also known as the myriameter band or myriameter wave ...

transmitter for communications with the US submarine fleet. He retired at age 71.

Personal life

In 1947, Van Leer married Margaret Anne Weaver, with whom he had three children, Maryanne Van Leer, Wayne Van Leer, and Blake R. Van Leer II, all of who became engineers. In 1981 the couple divorced, and in 1982 he married Colleen Jennings Van Leer, to whom he was married until 1997. Van Leer's family had several notable roles in the military. His father was a notable military officer, colonel, and engineer, and also received awards. During his father's tenure at Georgia Tech, women were admitted for the first time and steps were made towards integration. His mother was in the Army Nurse Corps, a technologist at the research and development department in Washington. Van Leer's sister Maryly Van Leer Peck is also a notable American academic who is the first woman to receive a M.S. and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and worked as a lead rocket engineer at the

United States Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...

. Peck also received the National Community Service Award by the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

organization and both Van Leers are a descendant of

Samuel Van Leer Captain Samuel Van Leer (January 7, 1747 – October 15, 1825) was a military officer from Pennsylvania who served as a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and as a lieutenant in the Chester County Light Horse Vo ...

, an

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

Captain and

Founding Father The following is a list of national founders of sovereign states who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system ...

General

Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and a Founding Father of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military expl ...

. After his retirement, Blake Wayne Van Leer became the President and Corporate Administrator of Urban Pathfinders Inc. Van Leer died on October 3, 1997, of congestive heart failure at Arlington Hospital and was interred at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

in Arlington, Virginia.

Citations

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Leer, Blake. 1926 births 1997 deaths Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United States Duke University Pratt School of Engineering alumni Joint Forces Staff College alumni Needham B. Broughton High School alumni North Carolina State University alumni Military personnel from Berkeley, California Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Recipients of the Legion of Merit Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Seabees United States Navy engineering officers Van Leer family

Early life and education

Military service

Personal life

See also

Citations

Sources