By now readers may be tiring of our coverage of the return after 75 years of the remains of WWII soldier Pvt. William Gruber, but there are just a few tidbits remaining that we thought readers should know. Last week’s Monitor carried a front-page photo of the presentation of the American flag to family members.
A sharp-eyed reader with connections to Montana’s military pointed out that the man presenting the flag was Brigadier General Jeffrey Ireland. That the Army chose to send someone of such high rank indicates the importance they placed on honoring Gruber, said the reader. Ireland is Montana’s senior federal full-time management official for the Army. Nowhere have we told readers of the outpouring of interest our coverage generated.
Veterans from both in and out of state contacted us well in advance of the ceremony day, interested in taking part in some way. Some we simply provided with information on service times, locations, and so forth. Others we referred to the family.
