NOTE: We wrote this Veterans' Day Alum Spotlight in honor of Lee Greenbaum and all Loyola alumni who have served in the United States Armed Forces.

Lee Greenbaum was a standout backstroke performer in his first year and a half at what was then known as Loyola College during the early 1940's. Then, like so many other students during that era, World War II forced him to put everything on hold to serve his country.

Greenbaum, who was the oldest known living alum of the swimming and diving program at the time of his passing last week, was one of hundreds of Greyhounds to serve in the war. He first entered the Navy in December of 1942, and was commissioned a naval aviator ready for combat duty two years later.
 

 
After training stints in Roanoke, Va., Memphis NAS, Hutchinson NAS, Pensacola, Fla., San Diego, Calif., and Jacksonville NAS, Greenbaum was assigned to his squadron while at Kaneohi Naval Air Station, Hawaii. From there, he was ordered to areas in the Pacific, where he flew Navy Privateer bombers across hundreds of miles to protect American interests. 
 

"Our role as a squadron was to patrol and bomb," Greenbaum said in a 2007 family interview. "We covered Borneo, all the way up to Singapore and Thailand. We would fly out from our base in the Philippines to the end of our patrol, and then we'd fly a cross leg and return in a triangle-shaped route. And if we saw enemy shipping along the way, we would bomb it."

Greenbaum received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in World War II, a military decoration awarded to those who distinguish themselves by "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight." He returned to Loyola and the swim team after the war's conclusion, earning a Mason-Dixon Conference championship in the 150-yard backstroke as a senior. He also served as first president of Loyola's Athletic Association (Block L) during his final year on campus. Greenbaum graduated in 1947 with a split major in physics and biology, intending to go into medicine. 
 

Greenbaum's service in the Navy extended well beyond World War II. He continued to fly in the Reserves out of Anacostia Naval Air Station in Washington, DC after the war. He was recalled to active duty during in the Korean Conflict and was later promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 1955. After Korea, Greenbaum continued his education at the University of Maryland, earning a master's degree and later in 1962, his Ph.D., both in physiology. He remained at the Medical School, teaching medical students and doing research in neurophysiology.
 
In the late 50s, as a NASA consultant on Decompression Sickness, he helped train some of the country's first astronauts in scuba diving at the UDT Base in Little Creek, Virginia before their first space adventures.

During the Vietnam War, Greenbaum was again recalled to active duty by the Navy and was assigned to the Office of Naval Research and Naval Medical Research Institute to do research on problems related to submarine and diving medicine. He spent time at the US Navy Experimental Diving Unit and their Submarine School in Groton, Conn.  To further his research, Greenbaum attended Navy Diving School and qualified as a Helium-Oxygen deep sea diver in 1965, at the age of 42. An author of over 30 scientific publications, he co-authored two texts on diving and submarine medicine, and was editor of three texts on diving and undersea warfare.

After nearly 30 years of service, Greenbaum retired from the Navy as a Captain in 1971. He spent over a decade at the National Institute of Health, where he was responsible for scientific review of grants in the areas of stroke, head and spinal cord injury, MS and Parkinson's Disease. He remained involved with the Navy after retirement; he was a member of the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, serving as Safety Officer on their boats and gave lectures on diving physiology to Trident scholars at the Academy.
 

Following his time at the NIH, Greenbaum spent 16 years as the Executive Director of Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society until his retirement in 2001. He was proud of his longtime membership in the Chesapeake Environmental Protection Association, and was a Board of Trustees member, serving as President from 2005-07.

Outside of his professional life, Greenbaum enjoyed playing the cello, sailing and singing in the choir. He was especially active in the choir during his youth, as he and his two brothers were invited to perform at the 1939 New York World's Fair as part of the boys' choir at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Baltimore.

A native Marylander, Lee Greenbaum passed away at his home in Edgewater, at the time this article was being written.