Leonard F Adriance
T/5 in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co B, HQ Platoon
ASN#12204320
Born 1922 in NJ, Died 2011
Artist
County of residence at enlistment: Essex County, NJ
Other residence(s): Pompano Beach, FL
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: decorators and window dressers
Enlistment record:
He died May 4, 2011 in Pompano Beach, Florida. He is buried in the South Florida National Cemetery, Lake Worth FL, Section 39, Site 3005. Here is the Find a Grave entry. (Birth MMDDYY matches 1942 draft registration.)
findagrave.com/memorial/94011172
A check on the cemetery site
interment.net/data/us/fl/palmbeach/south-florida-national-cemetery...
shows that he was a US Army T/5 in WW2 (which matches a note in the GA database).
Social Security death index confirms that SS card issued in NJ (his state of birth) and death occurred in Florida. (Also draft card birthdate matches SS death index birthdate.)
search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=3693&h=90...
That's the facts; now the speculation.
The 1987 article linked below is an interesting one, describing the business of a Rita Adriance, who met her husband Leonard in 1980 when they were working on the production staff of a play. They were living in Coral Springs, Florida. I have not been able to confirm that this is the same Leonard Adriance. We know our Leonard lived in this part of Florida from his death and burial information.
newspapers.com/image/237346694/?terms=leonard%2Bf%2Badriance
Here is a confirming piece:
newspapers.com/image/632101813/?terms=leonard%2Bf%2Badriance
The articles say that Leonard had a musical background; they had written 3 plays together with him composing the music.
Found a divorce record for Leonard and Rita from 1996 in Broward County.
Found a relatively current web page for Rita
and I sent her an email to see if I could confirm this is the GA Leonard, but have not heard back.
I also found this 1983 article describing a one-man show of paintings by Leonard Adriance in Coral Springs, FL.
newspapers.com/image/624620898/?terms=%22leonard%2Badriance%22
So this must be the same Leonard Adriance that was married to Rita. (Leonard Adriance is a relatively unusual name; probably not two of them in Coral Springs.)
In trying to confirm that this was the GA Leonard Adriance, I did find that a Leonard F. Adriance of Newark NJ (where Leonard was living at the time of the draft) composed the words and music to a song entitled "What an Evening for Love" in 1940.
archive.org/stream/catalogofcopyrig353libr/catalogofcopyrig353libr...
Not sure that's strong enough proof but it does link a musical Leonard F Adriance in New Jersey in 1940 to a musical Leonard F Adriance in Florida in modern era, and we know our Leonard F was in NJ and FL at those times.