Leon H. Caverly

• Name — Leon H. Caverly • Born — 22 November 1884 • Birthplace — Dover, New Hampshire • Died — 12 December 1966 • Place of death — New York City, New York • Occupation — photographer/newsreel cinematographer

Leon Hollis Caverly was born on November 22, 1884, in Dover, New Hampshire. He started working as a photographer in his hometown Lynn, Massachusetts, around 1905. Caverly became a newsreel cameraman around 1914, working for Mutual Weekly and Universal Animated Weekly. Apart from his work on these first American newsreels, Caverly is also credited as cameraman for the film A Daughter of the Gods (1916), directed by Herbert Brenon for the Fox Film Corporation. On April 30, 1917, Caverly was enrolled as a Quartermaster Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. From that moment he was transferred to the Marine Corps Publicity Bureau to boost the recruitment campaign with fresh pictures and film. The Marine Corps sent Caverly to Europe in June 1917 to record the first shipment of American soldiers to France. Caverly sailed with the 5th Regiment, U.S. Marine Corps. He covered the 4th Marine Brigade training for war, the occupation of the American trenches near Verdun, as well as most of the major campaigns of the 2nd Division (A.E.F): Château-Thierry, the Third Battle of the Aisne (Belleau Wood), the Aisne-Marne offensive (Soissons), the Defensive Sector at Marbache, the St. Mihiel Offensive, the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge, the Meuse–Argonne offensive, and the 3rd U.S. Army occupation of the Koblenz bridgehead, Germany, in 1919. Caverly was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps on July 16, 1918. On December 15, 1918, Caverly was transferred to the photographic section of the 7th Army Corps. From January until April 1919 he was in Germany with the 3rd Army Corps. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps on April 21, 1920. Caverly remained active as a photographer throughout his life. In the 1920s he worked for Newman Travel Talks, producing films and photographs across the globe. In the 1930s he took up a job as a photostat operator in New York City until his retirement at 72. Leon Caverly died in Queens, New York, on December 12, 1966. He was buried at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York.