Final Salute

Lestle Wilbur “L. W.” “Les” “Newc” Newcomer was born on 23 Nov 1901 on a farm near Alexander, in Rush County, Kansas. He was one of eight children born to Dillard S. and Mary Catherine (Osborn) Newcomer.
After graduating from Alexander High School he studied Civil Engineering at Kansas State in Manhattan, KS, where he received his BSCE Degree in 1923. Fresh out of college in June of 1923, he went to work for the White Eagle Oil & Refining Company in Augusta, KS (later became Mobil Oil Company).
“L. W.” worked as an Assistant Project Engineer job for the Missouri Highway Department out of Camdenton, MO, relocating highways and bridges for the future Lake of the Ozarks.
When that work ended, he returned to El Dorado, Kansas, to become the Butler County Engineer and Surveyor. It was here he married Mable Grace Graham on 24 Jun 1926. He worked for Butler County for 28 years with time out during World War II to serve in the US Navy with the 63rd Seabees.
Civil Engineers with construction experience were in high demand during World War II. Admiral Lewis B. Combs, selected men like Lt. Newcomer from the 63rd at Camp Peary, VA, when the 6th Special Seabees Battalion was formed on 2 Mar 1943. Lt. Newcomer was named the Executive Officer of the Special group. Within a month Newcomer’s unit left the US from Port Hueneme, CA, on 30 Apr 1943 aboard the USS Mormacport. They were headed for the Fiji Islands, Guadalcanal, and Bougainville and later to Ulithi Atoll.
Newc and his Navy crews were responsible for building the Torokina, Bougainville airstrip even while shells and bullets were fired at them as the work was going on. By summer most of the Japanese army had been ejected from the island such that Bob Hope came on 1 Aug 1944 to provide a USO show for the Navy personnel.
On 1 Oct 1944, Lt. Newcomer took command of the 6th Special Seabee Battalion and his unit was sent to the Ulithi Atoll. When they arrived on 10 Oct 1944, the Island was pretty much unoccupied. By March 1945, just five months later, Lt. Newcomer and his fellow Seabees had turned Ulithi for a time into the world’s largest naval facility. The Ulithi dry-docks and Lagoon soon was filled with thousands of ships unloading or loading supplies in preparation for an eventual land war with Japan as the war effort moved closer to the homeland.
Lt. Newcomer, an outgoing, entertaining and confidant officer, found himself invited by Admirals Spruance and Halsey and Joy several others as their dinner guest aboard their respective ships while the Fleet was in port. On 4 Feb 1945, Ernie Pyle, a famous news correspondent was a guest of Lt. Newcomer as he came by Ulithi to write a syndicated column about the 6th Special Seabees. Two months later, Ernie would be killed by a sniper on another island. But the war continued even as the 6th Special Seabees did their work. The USS Mississinewa, a fuel tanker, was sunk in the Ulithi Lagoon by a Japanese Torpedo on 16 Nov 1944 with loss of life nearly 100. On 11 Mar 1945 a Kamikaze pilot crashed his plane on the fantail of the Carrier Randolph killing 19 Americans outright and 2 later while the ship was anchored in the Ulithi Atoll. Newcomer’s men helped to bury the 21 Americans in the Ulithi Cemetery. Even Admiral Lewis Barton Combs, the founder of the 6th Special Seabees came to Ulithi in March of 1945 to meet with Lt. Newcomer to congratulate him on his successes at Ulithi and discuss future Seabee Naval plans should an invasion of Japan become necessary. The war in Europe was winding down, but most thought the war with Japan would go on for a number of years. (See article about the life of Admiral Combs) http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/24/us/adm-lewis-b-combs-101-seabee-founder.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm
By fall of 1945 the war was over and Ulithi Island was abandoned as a world class naval base shortly thereafter. Newc returned to El Dorado, KS to resume his duties as husband and father of three children and as Butler County Engineer.
By 1953, the newly created Kansas Turnpike Authority selected L. W. Newcomer to manage the construction of the $160 million project. Newc’s County Engineering experience during the great depression and his 6th Special Seabees wartime effort served him well as he coped with building 236.5 miles of four-lane toll road from first spade of dirt to opening day in only 22 months. Building such a big project in record time was not that much different from Newc’s experiences in the Seabees except the construction crews didn’t have to deal with enemy combatants, only angry farmers whose land was being taken by eminent domain but at least no bullets were fired.
Newc served the Turnpike Authority as its Chief Engineer and later as the top executive officer for 17 years when he retired on 29 November 1971. Before he retired he became the President of the International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association, an association with members in many countries around the world. During his presidency, at the Association Annual Meeting in Rome, in late September of 1966, Mr. Newcomer and about 400 members of the Association were granted a private audience with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Italian Autostrade del Sole and by happenstance the 69th birthday of the Pope. After being received in a special room, Newc made a presentation on behalf of the delegates and then wished His Holiness a “Happy Birthday”, which seemed to please him that Newc knew. Pope Paul VI then presented Newc with a large white gold medal. When Newc tried to hand it back to him, the Pope said, “No, I give to you for your international leadership in engineering accomplishments.” Newc would later tell his family members and friends, “Making a presentation to Pope Paul VI and receiving his award and recognition as I closed out my engineering career was like ‘frosting on the cake’. This was definitely a step up from my humble origins working all day in Alexander, Kansas, cleaning out Mrs. Kueffer’s chicken coops for twenty five cents per day”. This remark was so typical of Newc who was closely allied with many Governors, Legislators, Congressmen, famous Admirals, noted war correspondents, University Presidents and even recognized by His Holiness. Newcomer never let pomp and ceremony go to his head and hence his many, many friends were greatly saddened when he died unexpectedly just before Christmas of 1980 while visiting his daughter and family in Newport News, VA. He was 79 years old. His funeral was held on 26 December 1980 at the First United Presbyterian Church in El Dorado, Butler, KS. The church was filled to overflowing with friends and family. In keeping with Newc’s wishes his friend, Judge Charles Heilmann gave a eulogy that had the mourners laughing out loud. That was just the way Newc would have wanted to be remembered!
Newc was about 6’3″ tall and left handed and loved to play competitive doubles tennis, told the most interesting funny true life stories, loved his family, Kansas State, his adopted home town of El Dorado, KS, and his many friends. He disliked his few enemies and golf with about the same passion, always dressed the part of a retired Naval Officer even when mowing his lawn. When deep in thought, he often tugged on his left ear lobe which was a habit noticed by his employees in general and one maintenance superintendent in particular. “You better get moving”, his super was once heard telling his road crews as the snow began to cover the Turnpike, “The tall man is tugging on his left ear”.