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Brady laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery
Nearly 57 years to the day the remains of "old soldier" and longtime Wharton resident George Clark Brady (Col. U.S.A.F., Ret.) was laid to rest with military honors on April 18 in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. The ex-cavalryman and B- 17 Bomber pilot from World War II was born Dec. 27, 1920 and died in Sugar Land on Feb. 3, 2008. He was joined in the burial site with the remains of his wife of 62 years, Victory Norma Potts Brady, who died Dec. 31, 2001. Brady began his military career with the Texas National Guard in 1938 as a cavalryman. At the outbreak of World War II he was in Co. A of the 124th U.S. Cavalry. As cavalry units were disbanded the men were given the choice of joining tank destroyer units or becoming part of the U.S. Army Air Corps.
After the war he joined his father in the insurance business and remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserve attaining the rank of colonel. He was a longtime civic and business leader in Wharton. As far as anyone in the local veterans' organization can remember, there has not been anyone from this area buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He joins the more than 330,000 veterans, their family members, Presidents and statesmen now buried on the 624 acres of Virginia land which was once Arlington Plantation, the home of Robert E. Lee's wife. It became a cemetery shortly before the Civil War came to an end. The first graves at the site were soldiers from the U.S. and Confederate armies. Now the burials are numbering between 20 and 24 per day. Mostly World War II and Korean War veterans.
Attending the burial were Brady's daughter, Sue Lane McCulley and husband Tom, now of La Grange; son, Bill Brady and wife Karen of College Station; grandson, Wesley Brown and wife Misty of Sugar Land; great-grandson, Jason Brown of Sugar Land; niece, Betsy Parsons and husband Burlon of Wharton; and nephew, Michael Bentley of Sugar Land. Unable to attend were his sister, Joy Bentley and husband Joe of Wharton, and brother, William Brady Jr. and wife Irma Jean of Palm Desert, Calif. Family members gathered at the cemetery's administration office in a family room. At 2 p.m. the group was escorted to the gravesite where they were met by a U.S. Air Force honor guard.
An American flag was then unfolded and placed over Col. Brady's remains. A 21-gun salute was fired by a squad of soldiers followed by a salute by the guard unit as Taps was played by a lone bugler amongst the thousands of headstones now standing silently at attention in perfect formation. After Taps the flag was folded by the guard unit and the sergeant in charge carried it reverently to Sue Lane McCulley. He knelt and spoke to her as he made the presentation. The ceremony ended with the remains being placed at the gravesite and the honor guard unit and firing unit retiring from the field. Visiting Arlington National Cemetery is one which one never forgets. The orderly lines of white tombstones testifies to the sacrifice men and women of this country have made to keep it free - Col. George Brady was one of those who made the sacrifice. |
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