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Fyrfighter sends in more sad news. Retired Boston Fire Department Commissioner and Chief of Department Leo Stapleton has died at age 93 on Monday. Like most of his generation, his first call to serve was to Uncle Sam. His obituary<\/a> says he was a veteran of the Navy and served in the Pacific Theater. They list his years of service from 1944 to 1946. Doing the math that means he enlisted when he was either 16 or 17. He was part of Task Force 58 and saw action at Okinawa and took part in the bombing of the Japanese home islands.<\/p>\n After the war, Leo joined the Boston Fire Department in 1951. The south Boston native’s father was named Chief of Department that same year. Leo would eventually rise to lead the department from 1984 until his retirement in 1991. He has two sons who followed him into the fire service as well.<\/p>\n Leo was preceded in death by his wife Doris. He is survived by five children, 13 grandchildren (if I counted right), and 17 great grandchildren.<\/p>\n In retirement, Leo continued to work diligently in support of firefighting. He was a prolific writer, writing a dozen books on his 39 years with the fire department.<\/p>\n On the topic of death, during a 1990 interview, Chief Stapleton said, “I guess the best way to explain it is, the way I look at death, I believe your soul leaves your body. I\u2019m not a very religious person. I\u2019m not very spiritual. But I really believe there is a soul and there is your body. I always felt, when I\u2019ve looked upon a body, that the suffering for this soul has ended.\u201d<\/p>\n Godspeed to the soul of Commissioner Stapleton as his suffering is now over.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"