John Luther Garland

John Luther Garland, son of the late John Alexander Garland and Mrs. Garland, was born June 23, 1891 in Lanes Creek Township in Union County. He was reared in Buford Township in the Smyrna Community and in his early teens became a member of the Smyrna Methodist Church.

Luther attended school at Mt. Pleasant and Macedonia.

When a young man he moved with his mother, brother, and sisters to Monroe. He worked then with Mr. B. C. Hinson in a grocery store.

He was called to help defend the United States when it was called into the First World War against Germany. On September 19, 1917, at the age of 26, he was drafted into the United States Army. At Camp Jackson, at Columbia, South Carolina, he was placed in Co. F. 30th Division, 119th Infantry. He remained there one month after which he was sent to Camp Sevier, at Greenville, South Carolina, for his basic training. He remained there until May, 1918. During his training he was allowed only one leave to come home.

On the 12th of May, 1918, he left for New York and sailed on the 18th of May to England. He was immediately put into battle and was in several major battles before being killed in action on September 29th, 1918. This was shortly after the beginning of the great offensive that broke the Hindenburg ling, forcing the Germans back toward the frontier, and resulting in the signing of the Armistice on November 11th, 1918.

No memorial service was held. It was requested that his body be brought back for burial. On April 13, 1921, his corpse arrived in Monroe from Hobakan, New Jersey, and lay in state at the Union County Court House until the day of the funeral. Corporal Fanerolles accompanied the body to Monroe. The Melvin Deese Post of the American Legion placed it in the court house guarded by uniformed members of the post until Sunday afternoon, when it was committed to the earth with full military honors in the same cemetary at Smyrna where sleeps the father of the dead hero. Graveside services were conducted by the late Dr. C. C. Weaver of Monroe Methodist Church.

Major B. H. Hinde then read the funeral service of the post and prayed the prayer of the Legion. While the grave was being filled, the songs, "Tenting Tonight" and "Jesus Saviour, Pilot Me" were sung by a quartet composed of Messrs. George S. Lee, Jr., Fred Smith, W. B. Cole, and Glenn Wolfe.

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