Years before C.B. Gambrell Jr. became the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s first vice president for academic affairs in 1967, he served in the U.S. Army as a sergeant and combat engineer.<\/p>\n
He was at the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Rhineland during World War II, and he received a Purple Heart for his service during the 1945 Battle for Remagen Bridge in Germany, a key victory for the Allies.<\/p>\n
Recently, he was bestowed another honor, Knight of the Legion of Honor, France\u2019s highest decoration, for his courage and selfless service to France while serving in the Army\u2019s 276th Engineer Combat Battalion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were sometimes out in front of our own infantry doing projects,\u201d said Gambrell, who left Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ in 1978. \u201cWe swept fields for mines, built bridges and did road work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gambrell enlisted in 1942 while he was a student at the University of Alabama. He said he is still in contact with a couple other men who served with him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was nominated for the award about 18 months\u00a0ago, he said, and a background check from French officials in the United States followed. During the presentation in Orlando, 10 people were given the award by a French admiral.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour decision to fight for freedom was an admirable act,\u201d Elaine Machado of the Legion of Honor wrote in a letter for the presentation. \u201cThe solidarity you lent our country and people as a soldier will never be forgotten; be assured that we are eternally grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his tenure at Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½, Gambrell was also a faculty member in the College of Engineering. He received his Bachelor of Arts at Florida Southern College; Bachelor of Science at Clemson University; MBA at West Coast University; Master of Science and Engineering at the University of Florida; an honorary LL.D. at Southern California Institute of Law; and Ph.D. at Purdue University.<\/p>\n
After leaving Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½, Gambrell held positions at West Coast University, Mercer University and Mercer Engineering Research Center. He now lives with his wife, Olive, in Lakeland.<\/p>\n
Gambrell, a retired lieutenant colonel of the Army Reserve, said the Legion of Honor presentation made him reflect on days past.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s easier now to see and realize what we accomplished, and that the sacrifices we made were worthwhile,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Years before C.B. Gambrell Jr. became the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½\u2019s first vice president for academic affairs in 1967, he served in the U.S. Army as a sergeant and combat engineer. He was at the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Rhineland during World War II, and he received a Purple Heart for his service during the…","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":50326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[79],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-50325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-academic-affairs"],"yoast_head":"\n