The COVID pandemic did not prevent Dublin’s Three Oaks Assisted Living from celebrating WWII Army Veteran Tad Gilbreath’s 102nd Birthday by planning a May 27th drive through parade and inviting family, friends and citizens including Turnbow-Higgs American Legion Post 240’s Veterans visitation chairman, Keith Fredrickson, to drive by honking horns and from a distance shouting Happy Birthday greetings. Tad was drafted in December of 1941 shortly after Pearl Harbor was bombed. He and 41 other men from the area reported to Mineral Wells, Texas for basic training where he was assigned to the Army Signal Corp. During the war, Tad served as a Signal Corpsman on transport ships in Europe and the Pacific and was awarded four Battle Stars and the Good Conduct Ribbon. He was honorably discharged from active duty in 1945. After the War, Tad, wife Willa, and young son Robert settled in Iowa Park, Texas where Tad was employed by the USCS (Soil Conservation Service) for 16 years. In 1961 President John F. Kennedy appointed Tad Iowa Park Postmaster. He served in this position for the next 13 years. Tad served as President of the Iowa Park School Board for several years. His son Bobby was a star Iowa Park athlete in both high school track and football and won a full scholarship to Texas A&M. As a freshman, Bobby recorded the fastest time in the Nationals intermediate hurdles. Retiring in 1972, Tad and Willa returned to their beloved Edna Hill, Texas community where they would raise Black Angus and Brangus cattle on land that had been in the family since pioneer days. Tad served as an Edna Hill Baptist Church Deacon and several years as President of Barbee Cemetery Association. Tad lost Willa in 2017 after seventy-six years of marriage. She was laid to rest in the family plot at Barbee Cemetery. Turnbow-Higgs Post 240 The American Legion Department of Texas congratulates and thanks Three Oaks Assisted Living for this exemplary recognition of ARMY VETERAN TAD GILBREATH and joins the birthday celebration by thanking him for his service to his Texas community and the Nation. WELL DONE SOLDIER!

 

 

 

 

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