WWII Guest speaker during monthly meeting
CRESTVIEW - The William Lundy Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, in their salute to veterans will have a guest speaker during their monthly meeting on Jan. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Sonny's in Crestview. The guest speaker is Reid Gilland.
WW2 veteran, Reid Gilland, was badly wounded when a troopship crammed with 1,500 American soldiers was sunk by a German U Boat in the English Channel December 28th, 1944. This was at the same time as the infamous Battle of The Bulge was taking place. He was asleep when the attack occurred.
Gilland has an amazing story which he will share with the SCV camp on Jan. 14. There were few survivors and he only recently learned the details of his rescue. He spent 32 months in Army hospitals recovering.
In addition to his story, Gilland will be sharing more than two dozen original letters that his great grandfather, from North Carolina, sent to his grandmother as a confederate soldier during the Civil War. His grandfather was killed the first day at the battle of Gettysburg. Reid will have these letters on hand for examining. The time and place is 6:30 PM 14 Jan at Sonny’s in Crestview.