Leonard T. Ryerson was born on 18 February 1911 in Danbury, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. He was the son of Wilson Heath Ryerson and Elizabeth Bentley (Thomas) Ryerson.

Leonard joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and was assigned to the 133 Eagle Squadron. Later, he was transferred to the 336th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group during World War II. He was piloting the Spitfire - Mk.IX #BS275 at the time of his death.

On 26 September 1942, Ryerson's Spitfire took off from Great Sampford, on a mission to escort B-17s to the Morlaix airfield. Returning from the escort mission and already short on fuel (due to a strong headwind and delays in finding the bombers), the formation got misoriented in the low clouds. While they thought they were over England, they were actually passing south of Brest where they were attacked by enemy fighters and flak. The squadron lost 11 of 12 Spitfires during this mission. The only Spitfire to make it back to England crashed upon landing.

2Lt Ryerson is now buried in the Brittany American Cemetery, Montjoie Saint Martin, France.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov, 4thfightergroupassociation.org