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Regular Session, 2014
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 24
BY REPRESENTATIVES LORUSSO, BARROW, AND SIMON
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To express sincere and heartfelt condolences upon the death of Lieutenant Colonel Albert
N. "Bull" Garland, USA, Retired, decorated Army Infantry Officer and military
historian, of New Orleans.
WHEREAS, it is with deep regret and sorrow that the members of the Legislature
of Louisiana have learned of the death of Lieutenant Colonel Albert N. "Bull" Garland,
USA, Retired, on Monday, February 24, 2014, at the age of ninety-one; and
WHEREAS, Albert Nutter Garland was born in New Orleans on November 7, 1922;
and
WHEREAS, he was raised in an upper-floor home on the corner of Elysian Fields
Avenue and Royal Street above the Garland Wagon Company, the wagon works and
commercial blacksmith service that his family established in 1883; and
WHEREAS, after graduating ahead of schedule from Warren Easton High School,
Col. Garland enrolled at Louisiana State University at the age of sixteen; and
WHEREAS, at LSU, Col. Garland joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and
earned a bachelor of science degree in education in 1943; and
WHEREAS, he fought in the European Theater during World War II, serving as a
rifle company commander with the Army's 84th Infantry Division, taking part in extensive
combat including the momentous Battle of the Bulge, and earning numerous decorations for
valor and military skill; and
WHEREAS, a notable instance of his gallantry in action occurred in a two-day battle
in a small Belgian town held by his company; as was later reported in The Times-Picayune
and newspapers elsewhere, with German tanks advancing on the town and his company's ENROLLEDHCR NO. 24
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firepower insufficient to stop the tank column, then-Captain Garland called in artillery fire
on his own positions to impede the German forces and personally supervised combat through
the night and into the next day that finally repulsed the German attack; and
WHEREAS, among the decorations he earned from his service in World War II were
two Silver Star Medals, two Bronze Star Medals, the Army Commendation Medal with two
Oak Leaf Clusters, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and two Purple Hearts; and
WHEREAS, Col. Garland returned to Louisiana after the war to resume his studies
at LSU and earned a master's degree in history from that institution in 1947; and
WHEREAS, he reenlisted in the Army after earning his master's degree, rose steadily
through the ranks of the Infantry, and returned again to his alma mater in 1952 where he
would serve as an assistant professor of military science until 1955 and as the faculty advisor
to the LSU ROTC Pershing Rifles; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the signing of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty,
the Army needed a soldier who was both a warrior and a scholar to train the officers of the
Nationalist Chinese military in Taiwan and found in Bull Garland their man; and
WHEREAS, then-Major Garland shipped off in 1955 to Tainan, Taiwan, where he
would spend the better part of three years training Chiang Kai-shek's officer corps; and
WHEREAS, he returned to the United States in 1957, joined the Army's Office of
the Chief of Military History, and began a "second career" in the military as a writer and
historian; and
WHEREAS, perhaps his greatest achievement as an historian was authoring, with
Dr. Howard M. Smyth, the volume of the United States Army's official history of World War
II entitled "Sicily and the Surrender of Italy", published in 1965; and
WHEREAS, Col. Garland would be a military historian and journalist for the
remainder of a long and productive military career that, by its close, would include twenty-
six years as an Army Infantry Officer and twenty years of civil service with the Department
of Defense; and
WHEREAS, he held the positions of assistant editor at Military Review, the Army's
professional magazine, and editor in chief at Infantry Magazine, the position from which he
retired in 1992, marking the conclusion of his forty-six years of service to the military; and ENROLLEDHCR NO. 24
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WHEREAS, after retirement, Col. Garland made his home in Columbus, Georgia,
near Fort Benning, where he was a highly respected figure to many soldiers who attended
the Army Infantry School there; and
WHEREAS, through his later years, Col. Garland was recognized on an increasing
basis as a preeminent historian of the Army Infantry; and
WHEREAS, military and civic leaders consulted him frequently, both by researching
his writings and visiting with him personally, as they worked to establish the National
Infantry Museum, which now stands as a major institution in Columbus; and
WHEREAS, Col. Garland was a lifelong and active proponent of education, and was
a benefactor of Saint Anne-Pacelli Catholic School and the Columbus Public Library; and
WHEREAS, he died peacefully at his home, and was laid to rest with full military
honors.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
express sincere and heartfelt condolences upon the death of Lieutenant Colonel Albert N.
"Bull" Garland, USA, Retired, of New Orleans; does hereby recognize his brave and faithful
military service; and does hereby record his singular contributions and achievements, which
will forever be a source of pride and honor for his family, his home state of Louisiana, and
his country.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
to the family of Col. Garland.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE