Gensler, LeRoy Adam (August 15, 1915 - January 13, 1976)

LeRoy Adam Gensler (August 15, 1915 - January 13, 1976) was an American cartoonist and World War II veteran. Born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Gensler learned cartooning after picking up a correspondence cartooning course that his grandfather abandoned. He began working for the Reading Times in 1937. He entered the U.S. Army on September 28, 1943, and was assigned to the 178th Engineer Combat Battalion at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. He was a member of the Headquarters Company and attained the rank of Staff Sergeant. Gensler served overseas with the 178th from August 11, 1944, through January 14, 1946. Gensler originally left Europe for the U.S. in December 1945, but the ship he was traveling on was damaged by a hurricane mid-crossing and was forced to seek repairs in the Azores, where Gensler and the rest of the soldiers traveling home spent a few weeks. After safely returning to the U.S., he was discharged on January 17, 1946, and returned to the Reading Times. He moved to the Reading Eagle, the competing newspaper, in 1952. He married Dorothy I. Keefer on November 23, 1939 (Thanksgiving Day), with whom he had one son.