At the 139th National Encampment, the first-ever virtual encampment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War elected Brian C. Pierson of Bethel Acres, OK as the 133rd Brother to hold the office of Commander-in-Chief. As a dual member of the Departments of Georgia & South Carolina and from Oklahoma, he is the first Commander-in-Chief from either of these Departments.
Brother Pierson entered the Order as a National Member at Large, and joined Charles Devens Camp #10 in Columbia, SC when the Camp and Department were organized in 2008. Within the Camp and
Department, he has held the positions of Camp Commander, Department Patriotic Instructor, JVC, SVC, Department Commander, Chief of Staff, Newsletter Editor, among others. In 2014, he led the host committee for the National Encampment in Marietta, Georgia. At the National Level, he has served on the Council of Administration, National Military Affairs Committee, National Monuments Grants Committee Chair, and Strategic Planning & Vision Committee.
Brother Pierson grew up in Marshfield, Massachusetts. He learned about the SUVCW after researching regimental inscriptions on his ancestors’ gravestones. He traces his direct Civil War lineage through his great-great grandfather John Steilen (aka Steele), Private, Company I, 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, who also was a member of Henry Turner Post #46, New London, Dept. of Wisconsin, G.A.R., and also through a number of uncles, including Alanson Pierson, Private, Company C, 14 th New York State Militia “Brooklyn Chasseurs,” mortally wounded at the Battle of South Mountain.
Brother Pierson is a 28-year Air Force veteran. He is a Master Navigator with over 5,400 flying hours and served in the Panama Invasion, Persian Gulf War, Kosovo Campaign, Global War on Terrorism, and Iraq Campaign where he was attached to the XVIIIth Airborne Corps in Baghdad. He has been credited with sea time on the USS Mount Whitney. In addition, he was non-voluntarily assigned to the Pentagon, Washington DC.
Brother Pierson is a Knight Commander with Star of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He is an Upper Freeman of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots, a livery company of the City of London, and is a member of the Mayflower Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Military Officers Association of America, Knights of Columbus, and the National Rifle Association. He currently serves on the town council of Bethel Acres, OK.
Brother Pierson is married to the former Denise Hudson of Shawnee, OK, a 5th generation Oklahoman whose family are among the original settlers of the Bethel Acres and Shawnee area after the 1889 Land Run. They have four sons.