Andrew Lee, 106; Said to Be the State’s Oldest Black Veteran

His baseball heroes were Satchel Paige and Babe Ruth. His favorite president was Franklin D. Roosevelt. And he said the best car ever built was the Packard.

The grandson of a slave, he joined the Army in World War I and was assigned to handle the horses and mules delivering supplies to the troops.

Andrew Lee, a private in the Quartermaster Corps in Pennsylvania in 1918, died Oct. 18 in the nursing facility of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Los Angeles. He was 106.

“He’s every nurse’s dream. He works out every day,” retired Navy medical corpsman and VA nurse Frank Gillette told The Times in March when Lee received a World War I Commemorative Medal authorized by Congress a few years ago.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Bob Johnson, who has devoted the last decade to helping find World War I veterans and who reported Lee’s death, first encountered the old soldier astride an Exercycle.

Johnson said Lee was believed to be the oldest surviving African American veteran in California.

Born on a farm near Dothan, Ala., one of 11 children, Lee grew up working six days a week on the farm, with Sundays reserved for church and occasional social activities.

At 19, he sailed for New York City, where he worked as a laborer. Later he moved to Pennsylvania and at age 24, in the waning days of World War I, enlisted in the Army.

Assigned to the Quartermaster Corps, he built a reputation for his ability to handle the horses and mules pulling supply wagons.

Lee settled in Detroit after the war and spent the remainder of his working years as a truck driver for Packard Motor Co., which may have influenced his opinion about quality cars.

He avidly followed the sports careers of baseball players Ruth and Paige and boxer Joe Louis.

He moved to Los Angeles when he retired at 65.

When Lee received his medal in March at a special ceremony, he got a hug from his wife, Eloise, who quipped: “He outlived all his other wives.”

In better shape than many of the 150 veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam who shared his nursing home living quarters, Lee traveled the short distance to Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood for Memorial Day services in May. He heard Gov. Gray Davis urge that youngsters be taught about the sacrifices made by past generations in several wars.

When the program ended, several uniformed military men lined up to be photographed with the 106-year-old vet.

Lee, who outlived several wives, is survived by Eloise, his wife of three years, and his son Bruce.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at McCarty Memorial Christian Church, 4101 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles. Lee will be buried at the national cemetery in Westwood.