America’s first “Lone Ranger” was none other than Lee Berriam Powell in the popular Western series in 1937. Following the initial movie, Republic studios made him an offer of five years at $150.00 a week for a sequel. However, he and his agent turned it down in a power play for more money. It backfired and the studio dumped him. But at the outbreak of WWII, Lee like so many of our true Hollywood heroes enlisted in the Marines in August 1942. He was assigned to the 18th Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division. With his hardened comrades he survived the bloodbath of the landing at Tarawa followed by the desperate battle for Saipan.
Following the subjugation of Saipan, he and his regiment were sent to the nearby island of Tinian on July 30, 1944. There the silver screen idol met his fate when he was killed in action. He was buried in the Tinian Cemetery where he remained until March 1949 when his remains were brought to the National Memorial Cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii. The island he sacrificed his life to capture, became the launching point for the "Enola Gay" that delivered the atomic bomb to Hiroshima in 1945. Ironically, a graduate of Pensacola High School, Class of 1941, Ronald Hixon Eddins was also killed on this same island, as he piloted his B-29 bomber upon takeoff on his 15th mission in 1945.
Hollywood's First Lone Ranger Lee Powell 1937
USMC Marine Lee Powell, KIA July 1944 on Tinian
Pensacola News Journal August 31, 1944
Pensacolian Ronald Hixon Eddins, PHS Class of 1942, KIA 1945