|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Post 41 commander receives award
John Gallagher gives all the credit for his achievements as commander of Lloyd Williams American Legion Post 41 to his military comrades and the community.
It is something a leader would do.
And that is exactly what fellow post members say he is, and why they recently honored him with their first-ever Commander’s Award in early April
Gallagher, a retired Air Force colonel who experienced combat as a pilot during three tours in the Vietnam War, recently stepped aside after serving as commander for the past two years, saying it’s time to give somebody else a chance to do the job. Post members gave him a plaque in recognition of his “loyalty, devoted service and leadership, and upholding the principles of the American Legion for God and country.”
“The post has really grown under his leadership,” said post adjutant Bob Ferrebee, estimating membership has increased to nearly 50 during Gallagher's tenure. Attendance at monthly meetings, which are held at the post on Church Street in Berryville, has doubled, he added.
“He was instrumental in starting our combined Memorial Day Service where the entire community can come together and pay respects to our fallen comrades,” Ferrebee said.
Under Gallagher’s leadership, Ferrebee said, the post also revived a long-standing tradition of attending a church service together on the Sunday nearest Memorial Day.
In addition, the post became more involved in veterans’ health issues by contributing to and serving at local Veterans Administration centers and clinics. It also renewed its commitment to the community by donating to charitable causes and participating in activities and events, Ferrebee added.
“To receive a plaque from your peers is always a pleasurable thing,” Gallagher said, adding he is “humbled but flattered.”
“I didn’t do that much; the committees did it,” he said “The committees are the ones who should get the credit.”
Two years ago, for example, Gallagher led a committee of local residents who worked together to establish a consolidated countywide Memorial Day service representing all 32 cemeteries where veterans are buried.
“Shot and shell are equal opportunity destroyers . . . regardless of color, regardless of religion,” Gallagher said, emphasizing the purpose of the day is to honor all fallen veterans.
Renowned military leaders have spoken at previous events, Gallagher said. This year, U.S. Army Surgeon Gen. Eric Schoomaker is slated to be the speaker. The May 27th ceremony will follow a luncheon at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9760 for soldiers from Walter Reed Army Hospital and patients from the Veterans Hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va.– what their military comrades call the “wounded warriors’ brigade.”
But Gallagher would rather not talk about what he has done.
Instead, he prefers to talk about other military leaders, such as Lloyd Williams of Berryville, for whom the post was named. Williams, a Marine captain, was the first Clarke County native to die in World War I, in the small town of Belleau Woods near Marne, France, Gallagher said.
In early June 1918, Williams received orders that he and his company of Marines were to hold their position at all costs, an order he obeyed even as the French retreated – and ordered him to do the same – in the face of attack, Gallagher said.
And on June 11, 1918, Williams’ men were among three units that retook Belleau Woods, he said. But during that battle, he added, Williams was wounded by artillery fragments.
“The importance of that is that it was the beginning of the end of World War I,” Gallagher said.
An Oregon native, Gallagher joined the Air Force after graduating from Washington State University as a distinguished ROTC graduate in 1961 and attended flight school at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona. He retired from the military in 1988. He is a member of the local VFW post and several other military associations.
Gallagher and his wife, Donna, moved to Berryville approximately six years ago after he retired from a second career as a commercial airline pilot. He enjoys playing golf and traveling and serves on the board of directors of a school for at-risk youth in Winchester.
You must be logged in to post a comment.