G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery, the former Mississippi congressman who championed veterans’ causes and for whom the modern GI Bill is named, died May 12 at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian, Miss. He was 85.

Montgomery served 35 years in the Army and the Army National Guard, serving in World War II and Korea before running for Congress. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for valor and the Combat Infantryman Badge for his service in Europe and rose to the rank of major general in the Army National Guard before retiring in 1980.

Before retiring from the House in 1997, he served 30 years, representing a district in east central Mississippi. For 13 years, he served as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and was also a senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee and played a major role in shaping personnel policy for the military following the Vietnam War and the creation of the All-Volunteer Force.

President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. Ten years earlier, he was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Service.

The Association of the United States Army presented him the Jim Woodruff Jr. Award in 1979, “For distinguished service to the United States of America by his tireless and patriotic leadership of those members of the House of Representatives dedicated to restoring the nation’s armed forces to a position of strength adequate to protect our national interest.”

Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA Ret., and AUSA president, said, “Sonny Montgomery was a tireless worker for service members, their families and veterans. He left a legacy of landmark legislation that dramatically improved service members’ and veterans’ lives that will last for ages. Even when he retired from Congress, Sonny Montgomery continued working defense and veterans’ issues with passion and commitment.”

Rep. Steve Buyer, chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement, “Our nation is fortunate to have the service of such patriots for even the shortest of seasons; we are blessed to have had Sonny among us throughout his long and generously spent life.”

“Last night, hours before he died, the House voted to recognize Sonny Montgomery again by appropriately naming the defense authorization bill in his honor,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic leader, said in a statement.

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in a statement, “‘Mr. Veteran,’ a ‘Congressman’s Congressman,’ ‘author of the Montgomery GI Bill’ – there are so many honorable, revered names that have been given to Sonny throughout his long, productive and exemplary career, but I choose to call him ‘friend.’ He was an inspiration not just to other public servants, but to everyone he came across. He was a confidant of presidents who had a down-home relationship with Mississippians that all of us who served with him tried to emulate.”

Adding, “He could have run for a ‘higher’ office, and he had ample opportunities to advance his career. But he chose to exclusively serve the men and women who elected him for three decades as their representative, with zeal and determination that was as strong his last day in Congress as it was his first.”

Forty years after the passage of the first GI Bill during World War II, Montgomery led congressional efforts to modernize the educational benefits for service members. The Montgomery GI Bill became law in 1984, which also made members of the reserve components eligible for education benefits.

“Two new generations of veterans have benefited from what we now call the Montgomery GI Bill,” Buyer said.

Montgomery’s other efforts for veterans included increased eligibility for home loans, life insurance and medical coverage. He played a key role as co-sponsor of the bill to raise the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to a cabinet-level position in 1988.

On the Armed Services Committee, he also was a strong advocate for the National Guard and reserves in modernizing equipment and building training facilities.

In 1990, Montgomery led a congressional delegation to North Korea where the Communist government turned over remains of five service members killed during the Korean War. He also made 14 trips to Vietnam in supporting the troops and then as a leader in efforts to determine the fate of POWs and MIAs from that war.

He identified himself as a conservative and was a member of the “Boll Weevils,” Democrats who worked with President Ronal Reagan in support of his economic agenda.

“Without question, he was my closest friend in the Congress on either side of the political aisle,” former President George H.W. Bush told the Associated Press.

He never married and leaves no immediate survivors.