Gettysburg Connection is pleased to present its Outstanding Community Contributor Award to Gettysburg resident Leon Reed. The award honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional civic responsibility, leadership, and generosity in Adams County.

Reed is a writer, historian, housing advocate, and steadfast civic leader whose tireless dedication to the community has enriched the lives of countless Adams County residents.

Reed is known to many in Gettysburg through his advocacy for affordable housing and his deep engagement with local nonprofits. He has served on the Board of South Central Community Action Programs (SCCAP) and helped guide the @Home in Adams County affordable housing initiative.

Reed has been a freelance writer for Gettysburg Connection since 2019, where he has contributed dozens of articles and insightful opinion pieces on housing, local culture, and local history. He also covered the Gettysburg Area School Board meetings for several years.

He has also been a long-time leader of the progressive action organization Gettysburg DFA. DFA Steering Committee member Will Lane, a longtime colleague, put it simply: “Leon has been a stalwart member and leader of DFA. Someone you could really count on. He’s passionate about history, about housing, and about making the community better.”

Reed was also instrumental in working toward a complete count of Adams County residents during the 2020 U.S. Census.

“Leon is a thoughtful, strategic, and deeply committed community member,” said Megan Shreve, CEO of SCCAP. “Whether serving on SCCAP’s Board of Directors, the @Home in Adams County steering committee, or through his many other efforts, he consistently brings a high level of engagement and care. When Leon volunteers, he gives his all, offering his expertise and experience in ways that genuinely support the group’s goals. It’s a true pleasure to work alongside him.”

Reed’s civic involvement is informed by a lifetime of public service. He worked on military and financial legislation as an aide to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and served as a consultant in defense policy and national security. He also taught high school history and has authored and coauthored acclaimed books, including A Combat Engineer with Patton’s Army (2020) and The Last Night of My Life (2024), both of which preserve first-person World War II accounts with rare depth and humanity.

Leon’s passion for history extends into his volunteer leadership with the Battle of the Bulge Association (BOBA), where he has served in multiple roles, including editor of The Bulge Bugle and head of outreach. Through these roles, he has helped preserve the legacy of World War II veterans while mentoring others to share their family histories. In one such instance, he encouraged fellow BOBA member John Baker to write about his father’s service in the 28th Infantry Division, even giving him the opportunity to speak in his place at a formal military commemoration.

Baker praised Reed for his generosity of spirit and deep sense of connection. “Leon has a gift for seeing the value in others’ stories and helping them bring those stories to light. He’s not just preserving history—he’s building community through it,” he said.

Among Reed’s many contributions to historical preservation was his work with Gettysburg resident and retired Army officer Tom Vossler to relocate and rededicate a major Battle of the Bulge monument originally stored at the Army War College. Their efforts led to its permanent installation and a well-attended ceremony at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle.

Despite several health challenges, Reed’s commitment to his work and his community never falters. Friends recount how he insists on bringing his laptop and notebooks to the hospital so he can continue researching and writing—often with humor and his trademark dedication. During his most recent hospital stay, he began drafting another book manuscript.

In all his endeavors, Reed is described as a person of quiet tenacity and wide-ranging intellect. He is deeply devoted to his wife and collaborator Lois Lembo, with whom he coauthored A Combat Engineer with Patton’s Army, a compelling blend of archival research and the wartime letters of Lois’s parents. “I imagine that coauthoring such a well-done book like this one would be a challenge that few married couples could pull off,” said Baker. “But they did it well.”

Featured image caption: Reed and Lembo