Rank: Staff Sergeant
Unit: A Trp, 1st Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment
Date of birth: 29 June 1954
Hometown: Lynn, Massachusetts
Campaign: Cold War
Married: Donna
Children: Jennifer
Died: 31 March 1978
Age at death: 23
Cause of death: Training Accident – high explosive shell from another tank.
Location of fatality: Grafenwoehr, West Germany
Click to open an external link to view general location of Soldier’s fatality.
Place of interment: Saint Joseph Cemetery in Lynn, Massachusetts
Click to open an external link to view Soldier’s grave site on the Find A Grave website.
Note: Army Staff Sgt. Leo D. Magner, 23 of Lynn, was one of four crewmen on a Sherman Tank killed when a high explosive shell from another tank fired by accident, pierced their tank and exploded during training exercises in Germany last Friday.
Sgt. Magner’s wife, Donna (Swetnam) and their year-old daughter, Jennifer were about to leave for Germany to join him when word of his death arrived.
Magner, a Lynn native, joined the Army in 1971, after leaving Lynn Classical High School. He was serving with the 2nd Armored Regiment in Germany.
–The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Wed, Apr 05, 1978 ·Page 63