Nobel Peace Prize recipient named as speaker of 4th of July event

SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — A Nobel Peace Prize winner has been named as the speaker of the North Carolina 4th of July Festival Flag Retirement Ceremony.

A spokeswoman from the festival said Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Gary G. Crowden. Crowden, the son of a World War II and Korean War veteran, served as an Army officer for more than two decades. In December 1988, he along with 297 officers from 17 nations were recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for their collective work in the Middle East during Israel’s invasion into Lebanon in 1978 and the withdrawal of Israel from the Sinai.

Crowden is the Commander of the Richard H. Stewart Jr. American Legion Post 543, which has 170 members who serve veterans and citizens of Brunswick County. He lives in St. James with his wife. They have five children and three grandchildren.

The ceremony will be on July 3 at 6 p.m. at the BB&T Flagpole on Howe Street.