Marion Military Institute (MMI) has inducted a Brewersville WWII veteran who died in 1963, into its Alabama Military Hall of Honor.Â
According to MMI's social media, Maj. Joseph Milner Reed, Sr. was enlisted in the U.S. Army as a college student at Alabama Polytechnic Institute. Afterwards he was sent to North Africa in 1942.Â
He was with Company B, 17th Armored Engineers, 2nd Armored Division, "Hell on Wheels." He served in Algeria-French Morocco, Sicily, southern Italy, Normandy and northern France during Siegfried Line, and Belgium and Holland during the Battle of the Bulge.
He received a number of awards, including EuropeanAfrican-Middle Eastern Campaign Medals, the French Croix de Guerre Avec Palme, the Belgium Fourragère, and the Netherlands Resistance Cross, as well as three Bronze Stars for valor, among others.Â
MMI noted one of his actions during battle in Holland.Â
"He was also awarded the Silver Star for valorous action on September 16, 1944, near Maastricht, Holland, where his platoon was constructing a treadway bridge to bypass the bridge destroyed by the retreating enemy," MMI's post stated. "Heavy enemy fire forced the abandonment of the bridgehead."
"During that time, Reed, while under exceptionally heavy mortar and small arms fire, personally guided his platoon to a safe position and then retrieved two immobilized heavy bridge trucks. At one point, Reed was hit by shrapnel near his heart, which was stopped by the Army-issued New Testament he always carried."
He was honorably discharged in 1946 and joined the Army Reserves where he was promoted to the rank of major. He died during a hunting accident in 1963.Â
His extended family was present for the induction, these being:Â Joseph M. Reed, Jr., Karen Reed Gibson, Donna Reed Morris, and Jarrel Reed.Â
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