WEST POINT- Members of the Benjamin A. Gilman Lodge of Perfection, Valley of Hudson joined with Congressman Gilman’s widow Georgia, his son Jonathan Gilman, daughter Susan Gilman Harts, Peter Tingus, grandchildren, friends, and former staff to recall his service, in war and peace, to the country he loved.
The ceremony began with Marc Eskridge recounting the 35 mission over Japan that Congressman Gilman flew while serving in the United States Army Air Corps from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. Gilman earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters surviving two crash landings on the island of Iwo Jima.
Eskridge recalled the many contributions Gilman made as a member of the United States House of Representatives. Eskridge shared a few of the Congressman’s many accomplishments working closely with singer Harry Chapin to eliminate hunger, fostering peace across the globe by promoting youth exchange programs, chairing the House International Relations Committee, and twice serving as a Congressional Delegate to the United Nations.
Eskridge noted, “Brother Gilman understood the importance of coming home to his district every week to spend time with the constituents he worked for and exemplified in every thought and deed the Masonic ideals of charity, fraternity and service above self.”
The ceremony concluded with a formal wreath presentation at the gravesite.
