Widow of Vietnam Vet sues VFW over too much alcohol

I had to change the title of this post for a simple reason. We talk a lot about
bartenders needing to be aware when a patron has had too much to drink. The problem here is that this was the VFW, a place where everyone should know just about everyone else there. Top that off with this Vietnam Veteran was the Commander of the post itself. We need to ask where everyone else was when the Post Commander headed for the door. Where were they? Didn't they care he had too much to drink and shouldn't be driving? I thought the VFW Posts were about friendship and a bond between veterans watching over each other. Am I wrong here? Dennis Gill was the Commander for Heaven's sake! If it happened to him where no one stepped in to drive him home, then how many others are able to just drink what they want and then drive away? Where is the bond they are supposed to have? Read the original post I put up in March about Gill having a Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart then wonder after he watched over others during Vietnam, then took care of others as the Commander of the VFW, how it is no one was watching over him?

Widow of Hernando Beach VFW commander sues post over husband's death
By Logan Neill, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, August 8, 2009



HERNANDO BEACH — Shortly after 1 a.m. on March 13, Dennis Gill left the Veterans Of Foreign Wars Post 9236 in his pickup truck and headed south on Shoal Line Boulevard toward his home in Spring Hill.

A few minutes later, the post commander's truck veered onto the road shoulder and slammed sideways into a tree, throwing Gill from the vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gill's wife of two years now believes that someone working at the VFW post's bar knowingly served her alcohol-addicted husband too many drinks that night, causing him to be too intoxicated to drive.

On Wednesday, Gail Gill filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the post in Circuit Court, seeking damages in excess of $15,000.

A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, Gill was an Army veteran of the Vietnam War. He earned both a Bronze Star and Silver Star for saving comrades' lives in combat, and received a Purple Heart for injuries that left him 100 percent disabled.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/civil/article1025844.ece

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hernando Beach VFW commander killed in wreck
March 13, 2009
Tom Marshall, Times staff writer

HERNANDO BEACH -- The commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9236 was killed early this morning in a one-car accident.

Dennis P. Gill, 60, was driving south on Shoal Line Boulevard around 1:10 a.m. when his car left the road and struck a tree. He died at the scene, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Gill was a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, having served in the 173rd Airborne Division of the Army. He received the Purple Heart and both the Bronze Star and Silver Star for valor in combat, and spent much of his time working on behalf of veterans, said post quartermaster Bob Estrada."

A lot of times he was very private because of his post-traumatic stress disorder," Estrada said. "(But) I think his heart and feelings for the last couple of years have been with this post."
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