16 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.

com Salute to Veterans

S alute
to
V eteranS

Sunday, November 11, 2018

2 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 15
14 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 3

Trenton R. Sheffield Toni Petty Singletary Don Wingo Army.

He served a foreign tour in Vietnam To these veterans and the many others
U.S. Army U.S. Air Force U.S. Army where he also had combat experi-
Staff Sergeant Toni Petty Singletary, ence. who have and continue to fight for
He joined the military out of a duty
25, of Sumter, South Carolina, has
served seven years in the U.S. Air to serve with others at that time. our Freedom, we say THANK YOU
Force. Wingo does not talk of his experi-
She served a foreign tour to South ence in Vietnam much and does not Robert L. Boland Grover Walter (G.W.) Land
Korea and has no combat experience. really want to be recognized for his U.S. Air Force U.S. Army
Singletary joined the military be- service. According to his sister, that
cause she wanted to serve our coun- war did have a lasting effect on him Jerry Brown Torrey L. Petty
and his family as she’s sure it did on U.S. Air Force U.S. Army
try.
She recalls her tour to South Korea many others.
James Henry Bush James E. Richardson
as being her first time going to anoth- U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army
er country.
Jimmy Campbell Trenton R. Sheffield
U.S. Army
Robert Lee Ward U.S. Air Force
U.S. Navy Lon Clemmons Toni Petty Singletary
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army

Wayne L. Hardy Robert Lee Ward

U.S. Navy
U.S. Air Force

Mark Horning Don Wingo

Sergeant Trenton R. Sheffield, 82,
of Columbus, served six years in the
U.S. Army.
He served a foreign tour in Germa-
ny but had no combat experience.
He joined the military because jobs
were scarce and he wanted to serve
our country.
He recalls his company’s orders
were to protect part of the German
border and prevent Communism from
entering. Orders were given that in
the event the enemy attempted to
cross over into Germany, they were
able to withdraw and meet other units
for a combined fight. While retreat-
ing, they were to blow bridges and
railroads to slow down the enemy.
His experience makes him proud that
our President is going to build a wall
to protect the USA.
U.S. Army
U.S. Marine Corps
First Lieutenant Don Wingo, 73, of John W. Ross
U.S. Air Force
Columbus, served in 1968 in the U.S.
Robert Lee Ward was a veteran of
the U.S. Navy, Theater of Operations;
South Pacific from 1945-46, Guam
Saipan, Okinawa (Camp Lasco) hav-
ing served in World War II.
He earned several medals, Victory,
American Campaign, Asiatic-Pacific
Campaign medal and a Bronze Star.
He was also an active member of the
American Legion Post #217 of Co-
lumbus and a lifetime member of the
Veteran of Foreign Wars of the United
States.
4 Sunday, November 11, 2018
Helping veterans reintegrate
Job fairs, other programs helping soldiers succeed after service
By Alex Holloway
aholloway@cdispatch.com
F
rom job fairs to the veter-
ans center on Mississippi
State University’s campus,
local communities are mak-
ing efforts to help veterans
reintegrate to civilian life after
leaving service.
Starkville hosted a veterans sum-
mit in late October that drew veter-
ans and employers from across the
region, as well as representatives from
Veterans Affairs offices and insurance
providers.
Jimmy Vaughn, who volunteers
with the Employment Support of the
Guard and Reserve, attended the
veterans summit. Vaughn worked full-
time with the National Guard for 20
years.
While he said his own experiences
after his service have been largely
pleasant, it’s impossible to ignore the
strides made in the years since he
served.
“When I came back from training
to go to Desert Storm, they didn’t do
all this kind of stuff back then,” he
said. “But they’ve progressively gotten
better. You got some briefings back
then, but I told someone a while ago,
when we got ready to go, you signed
your closing record, you signed your
equipment receipt and if you had a
will and power of attorney, you were
good to go. But now it’s a whole lot
different.”
Vaughn said the effort being put
into reaching out to veterans, at least
locally, is evident through events such
as the job fair, which drew hundreds
of veterans from around the Golden
Triangle.
“These employers have found out
the value of a soldier — the work
ethic, the discipline and things of
that nature,” Vaughn said. “They’re
a lot more mature. I talked with a
lady form Stark Aerospace earlier and
that’s what they’re looking for.”
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
Ben Baker, with Humana, talks to military veteran Curtis Snell, right, at a veterans sum-
mit in Starkville. The summit featured employer booths and representatives for veteran
service.
And while soldiers may generally
have an easier time finding employ-
ment today than they did in the past,
Vaughn said it’s also important to fight
underemployment.
“The unemployment rate’s not that
bad in the Guard,” Vaughn said. “But
some of these guys want a better job.
This is an opportunity for them to be
exposed to those jobs.”
Van Summerville, a retired U.S.
Army sergeant, joined the Army in
1974, toward the end of the Vietnam
War. He was also activated for duty in
Operation Desert Storm while serving
in the active Reserve.
Summerville has found success in
the years since his service and recent-
ly retired from working at Yokohama
in West Point. However, he said some
of his high school friends, who were
drafted before he voluntarily joined
the Army, didn’t have the same expe-
rience. Some, he said, never made it
home. Others were injured during the
war.
Some other veteran friends, he said,
were exposed to Agent Orange, an
infamous herbicide the U.S. used in
Alex Holloway/Dispatch Staff
the Vietnam War from 1961-71. They
suffered lingering health maladies that
ultimately killed them, he said.
“Those guys who were exposed
came back and had all the symptoms
of (post-traumatic stress disorder),” he
said. “It was a long time before they
really acknowledged Agent Orange.
When they finally did acknowledge
it — the guys who were affected by it,
they didn’t last long.”
Veterans’ Center offers suite of
options
At Mississippi State University, the
G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Center for
America’s Veterans is working to help
veterans with a myriad of issues.
The center primarily serves MSU’s
student veteran or veteran-dependent
population.
Brian Locke, the center’s director,
said that can be anything from help-
ing with paperwork for educational
benefits to “unofficial” counseling.
“Me being a veteran myself, if I
know a service member is struggling,
many times they’ll come to me and
we’ll talk about some of the things,”
Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 13
Locke said. “It’s just a comfort level
thing because they’d rather talk with
somebody who’s been in the same
shoes as them as opposed to even go-
ing to a trained counselor. And there
have been times when we’ve actually
walked someone over to the counsel-
ing center for professional help when
they need it as well.”
The veterans center also works to
help veterans find employment. In the
spring, Locke said, the center hosted
its first job fair, which drew about
20 employers. Every Wednesday
afternoon, he said, the center hosts
workers from MSU’s Career Center to
help with resume writing, interview
skills, making Linkedin files or any
other topics to help with finding jobs.
Last month, a representative from
USA Jobs visited the center to talk
to veterans about how to seek jobs
or contracting work with the federal
government.
“We know all of our veterans one
day are going to be looking for full-
time employment so we want to do
what we can to help them out along
those lines,” he said.
The veterans center also has a state
Veterans Services officer, who Locke
said can assist veterans from the
community with any need, except for
educational benefits which the rest of
the center focuses on.
He said most of the veterans who
come are older, from the Vietnam era,
and he said most of the issues they
have are for claims or medical needs.
Locke added that one of the
center’s biggest benefits for veterans,
whether they are students or older
veterans from the community, is that it
offers a place to belong.
“One of the most important reasons
why we exist is that unofficial capaci-
ty to be that place where veterans can
come here and congregate,” he said.
“Particularly on our student veterans
side, they kind of sometimes have
trouble interacting with their fellow
students, but they can be here and be
with people who have some of those
shared experiences.”
12 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 5
6 Sunday, November 11, 2018
Remembering the SeaBees
Macon native, Vietnam vet recalls service in the Navy
By Slim Smith
ssmith@cdispatch.com
F
ifty years ago, Bruce
Barnett found himself
between two nine-month
deployments in Vietnam.
One deployment would have been
plenty enough for the Macon native,
if he’d had his way.
“You know, all of my family served
in the military,” Barnett said. “I want-
ed to do the right thing.”
Barnett enlisted in the U.S. Navy in
1967 and served three years.
His story is fairly typical of many
of the more than 9 million American
men and women who served in active
duty in Southeast Asia between 1964
and 1975.
It began with patriotic zeal, fol-
lowed quickly by disillusionment, a
homecoming where they were misun-
derstood and mistreated and, finally,
post-Vietnam lives where the residue
of war still emerges a half-century
later.
Of course, Barnett, now 72, nev-
er imagined any of that when he
dropped out of Hinds Community
College at age 20 and signed on with
the Navy, where he was assigned to
the Naval Construction Battalion,
fondly known as the SeaBees.
“I had been around heavy equip-
ment before,” Barnett said. “My fam-
ily had equipment on the farm, so I
was familiar with it. I guess that’s why
I wound up with the SeaBees, which
was fine with me.”
Barnett spent both of his nine-
month deployments performing a
single task.
“The enemy blew up bridges
and we rebuilt them,” Barnett said.
“Sometimes we rebuilt the same
bridge three or four times.”
Barnett’s crew was dispatched
throughout South Vietnam, moving
in where the Viet Cong or NVA had
attacked U.S. and South Korean Army
infrastructure. That included the Tet
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
Bruce Barnett sits at his home in Columbus Wednesday evening. Barnett served in Viet-
nam with the Navy SeaBees.
Offensive, which began in January
1969 and targeted more than 100
cities and 36 provincial capitals.
“That was the worst of it, for sure,”
Barnett said. “We missed Hue’ (where
allied forces battled Vietnamese forc-
es for more than a month in a hand-
to-hand struggle that leveled one of
the country’s most historic and beau-
tiful cities) in about a week. But they
hit pretty hard all over the country.”
The Tet Offensive was a critical
turning point in the war, making for
a major shift in public opinion back
home.
But Barnett said he had grown
disillusioned with the war long before
Tet.
“I was like everybody else at first. I
thought I was doing the right thing,”
he said. “But after about four or five
months, I realized it was all political.
All the higher-ups cared about was
body counts or about patronizing
Deanna Robinson/Dispatch Staff
some group or another. It wasn’t what
any of us had been told it was about.”
Although he was not assigned to
combat duty, the nature of his job did
put him in harm’s way from time to
time.
“I remember a lot of bombs going
off around where we were working,”
Barnett said. “Sometimes we would
come under fire, usually from mortar
rounds. I had about six guys I worked
with who were wounded, but I was
lucky.”
To prepare for that possibility,
he and his fellow SeaBees spent a
month training with the Marines, but
the strategy that was most employed
when they drew fire was instinctual.
“The procedure was pretty simple:
Run and hide if we could,” he said.
“We’d hide behind our equipment or,
in some cases, jump in the trenches
the South Vietnamese Army had dug.”
By 1969, Barnett was three years
Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 11
into a four-year commitment. He was
mustered out a year early, he said,
when the SeaBees decided to reduce
the number of heavy-equipment
operators.
Barnett’s homecoming was not
exactly a hero’s welcome.
“We flew into Long Beach, Califor-
nia, and the reception we got, well,
it wasn’t very good,” he said. “People
cussed us, fussed at us, threw things
at us. It was pretty bad until I got out
of there.”
Like many Vietnam era soldiers,
Barnett said he doesn’t dwell on the
experience, but he does remember.
“I was just a kid when I went over
there,” he said. “One of the things
that stuck with me was just how poor
everybody was. They lived like home-
less people.”
Barnett returned home to Macon,
but after a few years moved to Lown-
des County where he spent 35 years
with the U.S. Postal Service.
His war experience still has some
lingering effects.
“I don’t like to be in crowds,” he
said. “And if somebody comes up be-
hind me, I’m afraid I might kill them.
Loud noises bother me, too. I don’t
do fireworks.”
Now, 50 years later, Barnett has a
clear-eyed view on his time in Viet-
nam.
“I’m proud I served,” he said. “It
wasn’t all that I imagined it would
be and it’s not what a lot of people
imagine it would be like. But I did my
duty.”
10 Sunday, November 11, 2018
Mark Horning
U.S. Marine Corps
Sergeant Major Mark Horning, 71,
of Columbus, served from 1964-93 in
the U.S. Marine Corps.
He served foreign tours in Okina-
wa, Vietnam, United Kingdom with
combat experience in Vietnam 1965-
66 and 1968-69. He also had combat
experience during Desert Storm in
1991.
Horning joined the military to gain
opportunities for schooling and job
training.
He recalls the many opportunities
for education, travel and making
life-time friends. It was wonderful
experience for a former ranch hand.
He feels it was a great opportunity
to serve and defend this wonderful
country of ours.
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
John W. Ross
U.S. Air Force
Colonel John W. Ross, of Colum-
bus, served from 1965-91 in the U.S.
Air Force.
He served foreign tours in Thai-
land/Vietnam and Germany. He also
had assignments in Nebraska, Geor-
gia, Southeast Asia, Michigan, Wash-
ington, Alabama, New Mexico and
Florida.
As a young security forces officer,
he served with Colonel Tom Fere-
bee of Enola Gay fame. Ross was
about 5-years-old when Ferebee was
dropping bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
Ross served as a U.S. Secret Ser-
vice augmentee in the 1972 elec-
tions. He led a 24/7 protection
effort for a foreign dignitary that was
headquartered in the Watergate Hotel
at the time of the Watergate break-in
that led to the resignation of President
Nixon. His mother inquired if he had
any involvement in the matter.
While serving in the counterin-
telligence and security division of
the Defense Intelligence Agency, he
was part of a small team of FBI, CIA,
and NSA charged with investigating
leaks of highly classified intelligence
information. He was trained in both
antiterrorism and counterterrorism
which was particularly helpful in his
security forces function in Frankfurt,
Germany. His last job in the Air Force
was director of Law Enforcement and
Training, Air Force Office of Security
Police.
Grover Walter
(G.W.) Land
U.S. Army
Technician Fourth Grade Grover
Walter “G.W.” Land, 95 at time of
death, of Columbus, began his ser-
vice in the spring of 1944 in the U.S.
Army.
He served a foreign tour in Italy.
He received combat experience pre-
Pearl Harbor on an 804 Tank Destroy-
er.
Land was drafted while employed
with the Columbus Light and Water
Department.
His daughter, Barbara, recalls her
father’s furloughs, which were few.
She remembers riding to Killeen, Tex-
as, with her mother on a train to see
him. Her father gave 100 percent and
then some.
Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 7
Torrey L. Petty
U.S. Army
Private First Class Torrey L. Petty,
28, of Killeen, Texas, has served two
years in the U.S. Army.
He is serving a foreign tour in Po-
land, his first.
He has not had any combat expe-
rience.
Petty joined the military to protect
our country.
James E. Richardson
U.S. Air Force
Captain James E. Richardson, 83,
of Columbus, served 11 years in the
U.S. Air Force.
He served foreign tours in France
and the Netherlands but received no
combat experience.
Richardson joined the military to
keep from being drafted.
He recalls having a good assign-
ment in the Netherlands. He got to
see most of Europe. The Air Force
paid for his education with a master’s
in health administration at the Uni-
versity of Minnesota. He is the Lown-
des County Veterans Service officer.
8 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018, 2018 9

Robert L. Boland Rang, Vietnam was dangerously off

limits the entire year. While he was Lon Clemmons
U.S. Air Force Jerry Brown serving temporary duty in Danang U.S. Army
U.S. Air Force he was exposed to PTSD and Agent
Orange.

James Henry Bush

U.S. Army
James Henry Bush, 70, of Millport,
Alabama, served 19 years in the U.S.
Army.
He was ranked an E-5 and served
foreign tours in Vietnam and during
Desert Storm.
He had combat experience during
his time in service.
Bush was drafted into the Army.
He doesn’t like to recall memories
of his service.

Major Robert L. Boland, 85, of Co-
lumbus, served from 1954-77 in the
U.S. Air Force.
He served foreign tours in Japan
from 1958-61, Vietnam from 1965-
66, Germany from 1968-72 and
Korea from 1972-73.
His combat experience includes
FAC/Vietnam 374 missions. He
earned a Silver Star, Distinguished
Flying Cross, Bronze Star and Air
Medal with three oak leaf clusters.
Boland joined the military to fly
and serve our country.
He recalls being a career-long
fighter pilot flying F-86s, F102s,
F-101s and F-4Es, as well as combat
in 0-1s as fantastic. Patriots of that
time were great warriors and friends.
He says the soldier’s wives were
greater for they carried a greater role
under tremendous stress and raised
their children alone.
Sergeant Jerry Brown, 69, of Co-
lumbus, served from 1968-73.
He served a foreign tour in Vietnam
where he had combat experience as a
security policeman. He also traveled
to Wichita, Kansas, Phan Rang and
Danang, Vietnam, Mt. Home, Idaho
and Biloxi.
Brown was recommended for E-4
sergeant after 15 months active duty.
He had PTSD medical disqualifica-
tion while in Vietnam. He was highly
recommended for E-5 staff sergeant
and for reenlistment with under three
years active duty withheld. He cross-
trained from security police to sheet
metal with five level in both.
During his time in service, Brown
received several medals and awards
of honor including Air Force Com-
mendation Medal with Valor, Air
Force Outstanding Unit Award with
Valor, Four Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters,
and Republic of Vietnam Gallantry
Cross with Palm. He was also award-
ed Small Arms Expert Marksmanship
Ribbon, Air Force Good Conduct
Medal, Air Force Longevity Service
Award Ribbon, National Defense
Service Medal, Vietnam Service Med-
al, Republic of Vietnam Campaign
Medal, as well as the Security Police
Combat Preparedness Medal.
Brown recalls the city of Phan
Jimmy Campbell
U.S. Air Force
Sergeant Jimmy Campbell, 73, of
Fayette, Alabama, served from 1965-
70 in the U.S. Air Force.
He served foreign tours in Germa-
ny and Thailand.
Campbell joined the military be-
cause he has loved airplanes since he
was a kid.
He recalls getting to see the Bob
Hope Christmas show at Korat Royal
Thai Air Force Base, Thailand in 1968.
Corporal Lon Clemmons, 91 at
time of death, of Columbus, served
three years in the U.S. Army.
He served a foreign tour in Gua-
dalcanal where he had some combat
experience.
He was inducted into the military
but considered it a privilege to serve
his country.
Wayne L. Hardy
U.S. Air Force
Captain Wayne L. Hardy, 75, of
Columbus, served four years, three
months in the U.S. Air Force.
He served a foreign tour in Ubon,
Thailand and had combat experience
as a supply officer.
Hardy joined the military to serve
our country.
His thoughts about service were to
be mature and don’t sweat the small
things in life.
8 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018, 2018 9

Robert L. Boland Rang, Vietnam was dangerously off

limits the entire year. While he was Lon Clemmons
U.S. Air Force Jerry Brown serving temporary duty in Danang U.S. Army
U.S. Air Force he was exposed to PTSD and Agent
Orange.

James Henry Bush

U.S. Army
James Henry Bush, 70, of Millport,
Alabama, served 19 years in the U.S.
Army.
He was ranked an E-5 and served
foreign tours in Vietnam and during
Desert Storm.
He had combat experience during
his time in service.
Bush was drafted into the Army.
He doesn’t like to recall memories
of his service.

Major Robert L. Boland, 85, of Co-
lumbus, served from 1954-77 in the
U.S. Air Force.
He served foreign tours in Japan
from 1958-61, Vietnam from 1965-
66, Germany from 1968-72 and
Korea from 1972-73.
His combat experience includes
FAC/Vietnam 374 missions. He
earned a Silver Star, Distinguished
Flying Cross, Bronze Star and Air
Medal with three oak leaf clusters.
Boland joined the military to fly
and serve our country.
He recalls being a career-long
fighter pilot flying F-86s, F102s,
F-101s and F-4Es, as well as combat
in 0-1s as fantastic. Patriots of that
time were great warriors and friends.
He says the soldier’s wives were
greater for they carried a greater role
under tremendous stress and raised
their children alone.
Sergeant Jerry Brown, 69, of Co-
lumbus, served from 1968-73.
He served a foreign tour in Vietnam
where he had combat experience as a
security policeman. He also traveled
to Wichita, Kansas, Phan Rang and
Danang, Vietnam, Mt. Home, Idaho
and Biloxi.
Brown was recommended for E-4
sergeant after 15 months active duty.
He had PTSD medical disqualifica-
tion while in Vietnam. He was highly
recommended for E-5 staff sergeant
and for reenlistment with under three
years active duty withheld. He cross-
trained from security police to sheet
metal with five level in both.
During his time in service, Brown
received several medals and awards
of honor including Air Force Com-
mendation Medal with Valor, Air
Force Outstanding Unit Award with
Valor, Four Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters,
and Republic of Vietnam Gallantry
Cross with Palm. He was also award-
ed Small Arms Expert Marksmanship
Ribbon, Air Force Good Conduct
Medal, Air Force Longevity Service
Award Ribbon, National Defense
Service Medal, Vietnam Service Med-
al, Republic of Vietnam Campaign
Medal, as well as the Security Police
Combat Preparedness Medal.
Brown recalls the city of Phan
Jimmy Campbell
U.S. Air Force
Sergeant Jimmy Campbell, 73, of
Fayette, Alabama, served from 1965-
70 in the U.S. Air Force.
He served foreign tours in Germa-
ny and Thailand.
Campbell joined the military be-
cause he has loved airplanes since he
was a kid.
He recalls getting to see the Bob
Hope Christmas show at Korat Royal
Thai Air Force Base, Thailand in 1968.
Corporal Lon Clemmons, 91 at
time of death, of Columbus, served
three years in the U.S. Army.
He served a foreign tour in Gua-
dalcanal where he had some combat
experience.
He was inducted into the military
but considered it a privilege to serve
his country.
Wayne L. Hardy
U.S. Air Force
Captain Wayne L. Hardy, 75, of
Columbus, served four years, three
months in the U.S. Air Force.
He served a foreign tour in Ubon,
Thailand and had combat experience
as a supply officer.
Hardy joined the military to serve
our country.
His thoughts about service were to
be mature and don’t sweat the small
things in life.
10 Sunday, November 11, 2018
Mark Horning
U.S. Marine Corps
Sergeant Major Mark Horning, 71,
of Columbus, served from 1964-93 in
the U.S. Marine Corps.
He served foreign tours in Okina-
wa, Vietnam, United Kingdom with
combat experience in Vietnam 1965-
66 and 1968-69. He also had combat
experience during Desert Storm in
1991.
Horning joined the military to gain
opportunities for schooling and job
training.
He recalls the many opportunities
for education, travel and making
life-time friends. It was wonderful
experience for a former ranch hand.
He feels it was a great opportunity
to serve and defend this wonderful
country of ours.
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
John W. Ross
U.S. Air Force
Colonel John W. Ross, of Colum-
bus, served from 1965-91 in the U.S.
Air Force.
He served foreign tours in Thai-
land/Vietnam and Germany. He also
had assignments in Nebraska, Geor-
gia, Southeast Asia, Michigan, Wash-
ington, Alabama, New Mexico and
Florida.
As a young security forces officer,
he served with Colonel Tom Fere-
bee of Enola Gay fame. Ross was
about 5-years-old when Ferebee was
dropping bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
Ross served as a U.S. Secret Ser-
vice augmentee in the 1972 elec-
tions. He led a 24/7 protection
effort for a foreign dignitary that was
headquartered in the Watergate Hotel
at the time of the Watergate break-in
that led to the resignation of President
Nixon. His mother inquired if he had
any involvement in the matter.
While serving in the counterin-
telligence and security division of
the Defense Intelligence Agency, he
was part of a small team of FBI, CIA,
and NSA charged with investigating
leaks of highly classified intelligence
information. He was trained in both
antiterrorism and counterterrorism
which was particularly helpful in his
security forces function in Frankfurt,
Germany. His last job in the Air Force
was director of Law Enforcement and
Training, Air Force Office of Security
Police.
Grover Walter
(G.W.) Land
U.S. Army
Technician Fourth Grade Grover
Walter “G.W.” Land, 95 at time of
death, of Columbus, began his ser-
vice in the spring of 1944 in the U.S.
Army.
He served a foreign tour in Italy.
He received combat experience pre-
Pearl Harbor on an 804 Tank Destroy-
er.
Land was drafted while employed
with the Columbus Light and Water
Department.
His daughter, Barbara, recalls her
father’s furloughs, which were few.
She remembers riding to Killeen, Tex-
as, with her mother on a train to see
him. Her father gave 100 percent and
then some.
Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 7
Torrey L. Petty
U.S. Army
Private First Class Torrey L. Petty,
28, of Killeen, Texas, has served two
years in the U.S. Army.
He is serving a foreign tour in Po-
land, his first.
He has not had any combat expe-
rience.
Petty joined the military to protect
our country.
James E. Richardson
U.S. Air Force
Captain James E. Richardson, 83,
of Columbus, served 11 years in the
U.S. Air Force.
He served foreign tours in France
and the Netherlands but received no
combat experience.
Richardson joined the military to
keep from being drafted.
He recalls having a good assign-
ment in the Netherlands. He got to
see most of Europe. The Air Force
paid for his education with a master’s
in health administration at the Uni-
versity of Minnesota. He is the Lown-
des County Veterans Service officer.
6 Sunday, November 11, 2018
Remembering the SeaBees
Macon native, Vietnam vet recalls service in the Navy
By Slim Smith
ssmith@cdispatch.com
F
ifty years ago, Bruce
Barnett found himself
between two nine-month
deployments in Vietnam.
One deployment would have been
plenty enough for the Macon native,
if he’d had his way.
“You know, all of my family served
in the military,” Barnett said. “I want-
ed to do the right thing.”
Barnett enlisted in the U.S. Navy in
1967 and served three years.
His story is fairly typical of many
of the more than 9 million American
men and women who served in active
duty in Southeast Asia between 1964
and 1975.
It began with patriotic zeal, fol-
lowed quickly by disillusionment, a
homecoming where they were misun-
derstood and mistreated and, finally,
post-Vietnam lives where the residue
of war still emerges a half-century
later.
Of course, Barnett, now 72, nev-
er imagined any of that when he
dropped out of Hinds Community
College at age 20 and signed on with
the Navy, where he was assigned to
the Naval Construction Battalion,
fondly known as the SeaBees.
“I had been around heavy equip-
ment before,” Barnett said. “My fam-
ily had equipment on the farm, so I
was familiar with it. I guess that’s why
I wound up with the SeaBees, which
was fine with me.”
Barnett spent both of his nine-
month deployments performing a
single task.
“The enemy blew up bridges
and we rebuilt them,” Barnett said.
“Sometimes we rebuilt the same
bridge three or four times.”
Barnett’s crew was dispatched
throughout South Vietnam, moving
in where the Viet Cong or NVA had
attacked U.S. and South Korean Army
infrastructure. That included the Tet
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
Bruce Barnett sits at his home in Columbus Wednesday evening. Barnett served in Viet-
nam with the Navy SeaBees.
Offensive, which began in January
1969 and targeted more than 100
cities and 36 provincial capitals.
“That was the worst of it, for sure,”
Barnett said. “We missed Hue’ (where
allied forces battled Vietnamese forc-
es for more than a month in a hand-
to-hand struggle that leveled one of
the country’s most historic and beau-
tiful cities) in about a week. But they
hit pretty hard all over the country.”
The Tet Offensive was a critical
turning point in the war, making for
a major shift in public opinion back
home.
But Barnett said he had grown
disillusioned with the war long before
Tet.
“I was like everybody else at first. I
thought I was doing the right thing,”
he said. “But after about four or five
months, I realized it was all political.
All the higher-ups cared about was
body counts or about patronizing
Deanna Robinson/Dispatch Staff
some group or another. It wasn’t what
any of us had been told it was about.”
Although he was not assigned to
combat duty, the nature of his job did
put him in harm’s way from time to
time.
“I remember a lot of bombs going
off around where we were working,”
Barnett said. “Sometimes we would
come under fire, usually from mortar
rounds. I had about six guys I worked
with who were wounded, but I was
lucky.”
To prepare for that possibility,
he and his fellow SeaBees spent a
month training with the Marines, but
the strategy that was most employed
when they drew fire was instinctual.
“The procedure was pretty simple:
Run and hide if we could,” he said.
“We’d hide behind our equipment or,
in some cases, jump in the trenches
the South Vietnamese Army had dug.”
By 1969, Barnett was three years
Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 11
into a four-year commitment. He was
mustered out a year early, he said,
when the SeaBees decided to reduce
the number of heavy-equipment
operators.
Barnett’s homecoming was not
exactly a hero’s welcome.
“We flew into Long Beach, Califor-
nia, and the reception we got, well,
it wasn’t very good,” he said. “People
cussed us, fussed at us, threw things
at us. It was pretty bad until I got out
of there.”
Like many Vietnam era soldiers,
Barnett said he doesn’t dwell on the
experience, but he does remember.
“I was just a kid when I went over
there,” he said. “One of the things
that stuck with me was just how poor
everybody was. They lived like home-
less people.”
Barnett returned home to Macon,
but after a few years moved to Lown-
des County where he spent 35 years
with the U.S. Postal Service.
His war experience still has some
lingering effects.
“I don’t like to be in crowds,” he
said. “And if somebody comes up be-
hind me, I’m afraid I might kill them.
Loud noises bother me, too. I don’t
do fireworks.”
Now, 50 years later, Barnett has a
clear-eyed view on his time in Viet-
nam.
“I’m proud I served,” he said. “It
wasn’t all that I imagined it would
be and it’s not what a lot of people
imagine it would be like. But I did my
duty.”
12 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 5
4 Sunday, November 11, 2018
Helping veterans reintegrate
Job fairs, other programs helping soldiers succeed after service
By Alex Holloway
aholloway@cdispatch.com
F
rom job fairs to the veter-
ans center on Mississippi
State University’s campus,
local communities are mak-
ing efforts to help veterans
reintegrate to civilian life after
leaving service.
Starkville hosted a veterans sum-
mit in late October that drew veter-
ans and employers from across the
region, as well as representatives from
Veterans Affairs offices and insurance
providers.
Jimmy Vaughn, who volunteers
with the Employment Support of the
Guard and Reserve, attended the
veterans summit. Vaughn worked full-
time with the National Guard for 20
years.
While he said his own experiences
after his service have been largely
pleasant, it’s impossible to ignore the
strides made in the years since he
served.
“When I came back from training
to go to Desert Storm, they didn’t do
all this kind of stuff back then,” he
said. “But they’ve progressively gotten
better. You got some briefings back
then, but I told someone a while ago,
when we got ready to go, you signed
your closing record, you signed your
equipment receipt and if you had a
will and power of attorney, you were
good to go. But now it’s a whole lot
different.”
Vaughn said the effort being put
into reaching out to veterans, at least
locally, is evident through events such
as the job fair, which drew hundreds
of veterans from around the Golden
Triangle.
“These employers have found out
the value of a soldier — the work
ethic, the discipline and things of
that nature,” Vaughn said. “They’re
a lot more mature. I talked with a
lady form Stark Aerospace earlier and
that’s what they’re looking for.”
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
Ben Baker, with Humana, talks to military veteran Curtis Snell, right, at a veterans sum-
mit in Starkville. The summit featured employer booths and representatives for veteran
service.
And while soldiers may generally
have an easier time finding employ-
ment today than they did in the past,
Vaughn said it’s also important to fight
underemployment.
“The unemployment rate’s not that
bad in the Guard,” Vaughn said. “But
some of these guys want a better job.
This is an opportunity for them to be
exposed to those jobs.”
Van Summerville, a retired U.S.
Army sergeant, joined the Army in
1974, toward the end of the Vietnam
War. He was also activated for duty in
Operation Desert Storm while serving
in the active Reserve.
Summerville has found success in
the years since his service and recent-
ly retired from working at Yokohama
in West Point. However, he said some
of his high school friends, who were
drafted before he voluntarily joined
the Army, didn’t have the same expe-
rience. Some, he said, never made it
home. Others were injured during the
war.
Some other veteran friends, he said,
were exposed to Agent Orange, an
infamous herbicide the U.S. used in
Alex Holloway/Dispatch Staff
the Vietnam War from 1961-71. They
suffered lingering health maladies that
ultimately killed them, he said.
“Those guys who were exposed
came back and had all the symptoms
of (post-traumatic stress disorder),” he
said. “It was a long time before they
really acknowledged Agent Orange.
When they finally did acknowledge
it — the guys who were affected by it,
they didn’t last long.”
Veterans’ Center offers suite of
options
At Mississippi State University, the
G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Center for
America’s Veterans is working to help
veterans with a myriad of issues.
The center primarily serves MSU’s
student veteran or veteran-dependent
population.
Brian Locke, the center’s director,
said that can be anything from help-
ing with paperwork for educational
benefits to “unofficial” counseling.
“Me being a veteran myself, if I
know a service member is struggling,
many times they’ll come to me and
we’ll talk about some of the things,”
Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 13
Locke said. “It’s just a comfort level
thing because they’d rather talk with
somebody who’s been in the same
shoes as them as opposed to even go-
ing to a trained counselor. And there
have been times when we’ve actually
walked someone over to the counsel-
ing center for professional help when
they need it as well.”
The veterans center also works to
help veterans find employment. In the
spring, Locke said, the center hosted
its first job fair, which drew about
20 employers. Every Wednesday
afternoon, he said, the center hosts
workers from MSU’s Career Center to
help with resume writing, interview
skills, making Linkedin files or any
other topics to help with finding jobs.
Last month, a representative from
USA Jobs visited the center to talk
to veterans about how to seek jobs
or contracting work with the federal
government.
“We know all of our veterans one
day are going to be looking for full-
time employment so we want to do
what we can to help them out along
those lines,” he said.
The veterans center also has a state
Veterans Services officer, who Locke
said can assist veterans from the
community with any need, except for
educational benefits which the rest of
the center focuses on.
He said most of the veterans who
come are older, from the Vietnam era,
and he said most of the issues they
have are for claims or medical needs.
Locke added that one of the
center’s biggest benefits for veterans,
whether they are students or older
veterans from the community, is that it
offers a place to belong.
“One of the most important reasons
why we exist is that unofficial capaci-
ty to be that place where veterans can
come here and congregate,” he said.
“Particularly on our student veterans
side, they kind of sometimes have
trouble interacting with their fellow
students, but they can be here and be
with people who have some of those
shared experiences.”
14 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 3

Trenton R. Sheffield Toni Petty Singletary Don Wingo Army.

He served a foreign tour in Vietnam To these veterans and the many others
U.S. Army U.S. Air Force U.S. Army where he also had combat experi-
Staff Sergeant Toni Petty Singletary, ence. who have and continue to fight for
He joined the military out of a duty
25, of Sumter, South Carolina, has
served seven years in the U.S. Air to serve with others at that time. our Freedom, we say THANK YOU
Force. Wingo does not talk of his experi-
She served a foreign tour to South ence in Vietnam much and does not Robert L. Boland Grover Walter (G.W.) Land
Korea and has no combat experience. really want to be recognized for his U.S. Air Force U.S. Army
Singletary joined the military be- service. According to his sister, that
cause she wanted to serve our coun- war did have a lasting effect on him Jerry Brown Torrey L. Petty
and his family as she’s sure it did on U.S. Air Force U.S. Army
try.
She recalls her tour to South Korea many others.
James Henry Bush James E. Richardson
as being her first time going to anoth- U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army
er country.
Jimmy Campbell Trenton R. Sheffield
U.S. Army
Robert Lee Ward U.S. Air Force
U.S. Navy Lon Clemmons Toni Petty Singletary
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army

Wayne L. Hardy Robert Lee Ward

U.S. Navy
U.S. Air Force

Mark Horning Don Wingo

Sergeant Trenton R. Sheffield, 82,
of Columbus, served six years in the
U.S. Army.
He served a foreign tour in Germa-
ny but had no combat experience.
He joined the military because jobs
were scarce and he wanted to serve
our country.
He recalls his company’s orders
were to protect part of the German
border and prevent Communism from
entering. Orders were given that in
the event the enemy attempted to
cross over into Germany, they were
able to withdraw and meet other units
for a combined fight. While retreat-
ing, they were to blow bridges and
railroads to slow down the enemy.
His experience makes him proud that
our President is going to build a wall
to protect the USA.
U.S. Army
U.S. Marine Corps
First Lieutenant Don Wingo, 73, of John W. Ross
U.S. Air Force
Columbus, served in 1968 in the U.S.
Robert Lee Ward was a veteran of
the U.S. Navy, Theater of Operations;
South Pacific from 1945-46, Guam
Saipan, Okinawa (Camp Lasco) hav-
ing served in World War II.
He earned several medals, Victory,
American Campaign, Asiatic-Pacific
Campaign medal and a Bronze Star.
He was also an active member of the
American Legion Post #217 of Co-
lumbus and a lifetime member of the
Veteran of Foreign Wars of the United
States.
2 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Salute to Veterans Salute to Veterans The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Sunday, November 11, 2018 15
16 Sunday, November 11, 2018 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com Salute to Veterans

S alute
to
V eteranS

Sunday, November 11, 2018