Morris Leve was born on September 25, 1921, in Kings County (Brooklyn), New York. He served in the 38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, as a First Lieutenant and Fighter pilot. On January 31, 1944, he was killed in action when his aircraft crashed near Eindhoven, The Netherlands, on a fighter sweep of the area after being attacked by 20-30 enemy fighters in his P-38J #42-67768.

Major Mark K. Shipman reported: "I was leading Swindle Yellow flight with Lt. Leve as my wingman when at about thirty thousand feet an Me-109 made an attack on a flight below us. We made a pass at the attacking aircraft, made him break off his attack and then started to follow the E/A. Lt. Leve called and told me to follow him, that he would furnish me cover so off we went. Just after that however Lt. Leve called and said to break right in that three Me-109s were coming down on us, so break we did. During the break I lost Lt. Leve momentarily and also Lt. Hokinson, his wingman, and after that time I was not sure where they were. About two minutes later some twenty to thirty E/A came into the area, so I called and told everyone to hit the deck and start home. At the time some of the seven P-38s were in trouble, but after that I only saw three P-38s coming out with me. However, the other flight of four came out at thirteen thousand feet so I can't say for certain just what happened to Lt. Leve or Lt. Hokinson. We were at about twenty thousand feet when we started for the deck, and after that time I saw no E/A, nor was I fired at by ground flak on the way home."

1Lt Leve is now buried in the New Montefiore Cemetery, West Babylon, Suffolk County, New York, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.station131.co.uk