Major General Gillespie V Sonny Montgomery

1920 - 2006  (85 years)

• Name	Gillespie V Sonny Montgomery  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]
  Title	Major General
  Birth	5 Aug 1920	Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA   [1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14]
  Gender	Male
  CMSI Member	0020  [15]
  Residence	1930	Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA   [6]
  Residence	1 Apr 1940	Greenwood, Leflore, Mississippi, USA   [7]
  Military Service	10 Feb 1943	Hattiesburg, Forrest, Mississippi, USA   [10]
  	Camp Shelby
  Occupation	Between 1967 and 1997	Mississippi, USA   [1, 8, 11]
  	US House of Representatives
  Burial	2006	Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA   [5, 13, 14]
  	Magnolia Cemetery
  Death	12 May 2006	Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA   [1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14]
  Person ID	I56391	Clan Montgomery Society
  Last Modified	7 May 2024

  
  

  Father	Gillespie Montgomery,   b. 9 Jul 1895, Clarksdale, Coahoma, Mississippi, USA d. Aug 1929, Starkville, Oktibbeha, Mississippi, USA (Age 34 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	Frances Emily Jones,   b. 11 Apr 1899, Mississippi, USA d. 2 Dec 1987, Jackson, Hinds, Mississippi, USA (Age 88 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Marriage	28 Sep 1916	Mississippi, USA
  Family ID	F5900	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 5 Aug 1920 - Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA Residence - 1930 - Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA Residence - 1 Apr 1940 - Greenwood, Leflore, Mississippi, USA Military Service - Camp Shelby - 10 Feb 1943 - Hattiesburg, Forrest, Mississippi, USA Occupation - US House of Representatives - Between 1967 and 1997 - Mississippi, USA Burial - 2006 - Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA Death - 12 May 2006 - Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Documents

  Montgomery, Gillespie V Sonny (1920-2006) Flowers of the Forest Obituary from Gardien Newsletter of Clan Montgomery Society International

  
  

  Histories		Montgomery, Gillespie V Sonny (1920-2006) Website link to article in "Wikipedia"
  		Montgomery, Gillespie V Sonny (1920-2006) Article from Gardien Newsletter of Clan Montgomery Society International

  
  

  Photos

  Montgomery, Gillespie V Sonny (1920-2006)

  
  

  Folios

  The Montgomery Syndrome Chapter 22 - Honesty is the Best Policy Pages 195-199 Written by George Montgomery CMS 1477 Published by Scottish Workshop Publications Posted here with his courtesy and permission

  
  

• Notes

  A Tribute to Sonny Montgomery from the Internet: Born and reared in Meridian, Mississippi, Sonny Montgomery's early life helped set the course for a distinguished career. His father died at an early age when his only child was just 10. Sonny and his mother struggled like other familes during the Depression, but he had an otherwise normal life growing up in the Magnolia State. He spent his sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school at a military preparatory school in Chattanooga, graduating in 1939 from the McCallie School. Sonny enrolled in Mississippi State College to pursue a degree in business. There -- at an institution his great-grandfather, Col. W.B. Montgomery, had helped establish decades earlier -- Sonny furthered his military skills in the ROTC and gained his first taste of politics. Following in the footsteps of the legendary John C. Stennis, who had preceded him at Mississippi State by 20 years, Sonny was elected both president of the student body and "Mr. Mississippi State." Obituary from the New York Times: G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery, Former Congressman, 85, Dies Top of Form 1 Bottom of Form 1 Published: May 13, 2006 Former Representative G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery, a conservative Democrat from Mississippi who was a staunch voice for the military and the needs of veterans during his 30 years in Congress, died yesterday in his hometown, Meridian. He was 85. His death, of natural causes, came six months after surgery for a bowel obstruction, said Ann Weddington, a spokeswoman for the Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center. From 1967 through 1997, and particularly during his 13 years as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Mr. Montgomery championed legislation that increased veterans' eligibility for home loans, life insurance and medical coverage. In 1988, he was co-sponsor of the law that transformed the Veterans Administration into the 14th cabinet department in the federal government. "Veterans will no longer have to go through the back door to the White House," he said at the time. What he considered his "signature achievement in Congress," said Kyle Steward, his legislative director for 15 years, was passage of a law expanding the G.I. Bill, the 1944 legislation credited with elevating a generation of working-class veterans into the middle class by opening their opportunities to higher education. The so-called Montgomery G.I. Education Bill, which President Ronald Reagan signed in 1984, "enhanced education benefits for active-duty military personnel and extended those benefits to National Guard and Reserve members," Mr. Steward said. "And it was seen at the time as a boost for recruitment, because recruiting was lagging." Gillespie V. Montgomery, known as Sonny since childhood, was born on Aug. 5, 1920. After graduating in 1943 from Mississippi State College, where he was a member of the R.O.T.C., he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He soon saw action in Europe and received a Bronze Star. Returning to Meridian after the war, Mr. Montgomery built a successful insurance business and began his rise to the rank of major general in the Mississippi National Guard. In 1956, he was elected to the Mississippi State Senate. Ten years later, he successfully ran for Congress. In 1981, he became chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, while also serving as a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. He worked consistently to obtain money for the military. Describing himself as a conservative Democrat, Mr. Montgomery was a leading sponsor in 1989 of a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would have banned the burning of the American flag. "If we don't do something," he said at the time, "I fear that Americans, and especially veterans groups, are going to stop the desecration of the flag in their own way, and people are going to get hurt." The proposal failed, after a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Texas law against defacing the flag. The next year, Mr. Montgomery led a Congressional delegation to North Korea, where, for the first time since 1954, the Communist government there turned over the remains of service members killed in the Korean War. Mr. Montgomery, who never married, was an only child and leaves no immediate survivors. At a lean, athletic 6-foot-2, he was a good friend, and tennis opponent, of the first President Bush. Last year, the current President Bush awarded him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Also see tribute in CMSI News Magazine, The Gardien, Vol. 25, No. 3 published Summer 2006.

  
  

• Sources

  [S3625] Bio info on Montgomery Gillespie V, (Name: Wikipedia;). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillespie_V._Montgomery [S3159] Gardien Newsletter, (Name: Clan Montgomery Society International;), Vol 06 No 1 Mar 1986 pages 6-7 G V 'Sonny' Montgomery. [S2972] Ancestry.com, Social Security Death Index, (Name: Name: The Generations Network, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date:2007;;), Issue State: Mississippi; Issue Date: Before 1951. Record for Gillespie V. Montgomery http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=ssdi&h=77579516&indiv=try [S2833] Ancestry.com, United States Obituary Collection, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;), Newspaper: Meridian Star, The; Publication Date: 17 8 2006; Publication Place: Meridian, MS, US. Record for Gillespie V. Montgomery http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=web-obituary&h=12015297&indiv=try [S2775] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012;). Record for Gillespie V. Montgomery http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FindAGraveUS&h=92482666&indiv=try [S2774] Ancestry.com, 1930 United States Federal Census, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2002;), Year: 1930; Census Place: Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi; Roll: 1153; Page: 15B; Enumeration District: 0006; Image: 244.0; FHL microfilm: 2340888. Record for Gillespie Montgomery http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1930usfedcen&h=37089697&indiv=try [S2780] Ancestry.com, 1940 United States Federal Census, (Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.Original data - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627;), Year: 1940; Census Place: Greenwood, Leflore, Mississippi; Roll: T627_2043; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 42-22. Record for Gillespie Montgomery http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1940usfedcen&h=121066495&indiv=try [S3626] Ancestry.com, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005, (Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.Original data - United States. Congress. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2005.Original data: United States;). Record for Gillespie V. (Sonny) Montgomery http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=USCongress&h=7725&indiv=try [S2783] Ancestry.com, U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2015;). Record for Gillespie V Montgomery http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=Numident&h=27662076&indiv=try [S2902] Ancestry.com, U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2005;). Record for Gillespie V Montgomery http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=WWIIenlist&h=7786375&indiv=try [S3159] Gardien Newsletter, (Name: Clan Montgomery Society International;), Vol 25 No 3 Jun 2006 pages 1,5 Gillespie V Sonny Montgomery. [S3227] Montgomery, Professor George, The Montgomery Syndrome, (Name: Scottish Workshop Publications; Location: Edinburgh, Midlothain, Scotland; Date: 2015;), Chapter 22 - Honesty is the Best Politics Pages 195-199. [S3627] Magnolia Cemetery, (Name: Findagrave; Location: Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA;). [S2775] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012;). Record for Emily Jones Tims http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FindAGraveUS&h=42630563&indiv=try [S34] CMSI Member, CMSI 0020.