 On September 13, he assumed duty as Commanding Officer of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division.On November 18, 1970, during Operation Imperial Lake Leftwich was killed in a crash of an HMM-263 CH-46D helicopter during an emergency extraction of one of his reconnaissance teams.In accordance with his practice of accompanying every emergency extraction called for by his teams, he was serving as senior "extract officer" for such a mission on the day of his death.