A crowd of more than 100 attended a Veteran's Day Ceremony at the Attala County Coliseum on Tuesday morning, as retired Mississippi National Guard Brigadier General Jo Leslie shared with those in attendance her gratitude to all who have served in the United States military.
Leslie, who was one of the first five women admitted into the Mississippi National Guard when its doors were opened to females in 1959, also applauded the four Veterans Nursing Homes in Mississippi, as well as sharing plans for Mississippi's first Veteran's Cemetery.
Construction on the cemetery, which will be located near Interstate 20 in Newton County, is expected to begin in the spring. Leslie said that when the cemetery is complete that there should be 53,000 burial sites. The initial stage of the project calls for 7,000 sites.
Leslie also noted that the state's four veteran's nursing homes — located in Kosciusko, Oxford, Jackson and Collins — were at 95 percent capacity.
"These are excellent facilities and something we all should be very proud of," she said. "I have had a chance to visit them and the care given there is outstanding."
Leslie, who served in the nursing corps of the Mississippi National Guard, told those in attendance that there were 215,804 veterans in Mississippi and 1,506 in Attala County. She noted that there were more than 20,000 WWII veterans still living in Mississippi. Nine WWII veterans were in attendance at Tuesday's ceremony.
Leslie said that it is an honor and a privilege to serve in the military and the country owes a great debt to all of those who have served.
"If I were younger, I would be ready to go right now," she said. "I would call it a great honor to give aid to a soldier in need."
The ceremony, normally held at Parkway Cemetery on Huntington Street, was moved to the coliseum due to the threat of inclement weather.
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