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Ļć½¶Ö±²„dedicates WWII monument at Center for Americaā€™s Veterans

Ļć½¶Ö±²„dedicates WWII monument at Center for Americaā€™s Veterans

Contact: Allison Matthews

STARKVILLE, Miss.ā€”Mississippi State is honoring World War II veterans, including a number of former students who gave all they had to defend freedom around the world in the early 1940s.

The university unveiled a new WWII monument outside Nusz Hall, home of the G.V. ā€œSonnyā€ Montgomery Center for Americaā€™s Veterans on campus during a formal ceremony Monday [Oct. 2].

Ļć½¶Ö±²„President Mark E. Keenum said the monument dedication is one way for the university to say ā€œthank youā€ to veterans and all who have served. While the university already has some historic markers commemorating veterans, additional monuments honoring U.S. veterans of other wars also are being planned.

Ļć½¶Ö±²„President Mark E. Keenum speaks at an unveiling ceremony for the university's new WWII monument
Ļć½¶Ö±²„President Mark E. Keenum addresses a crowd of veterans, students, faculty, staff and other community members during the universityā€™s WWII monument unveiling Oct. 2. (Photo by Grace Cockrell)

Keenum recalled viewing, as a child, the Purple Heart which his great grandmother kept in her home after it was awarded to his great uncle, Alvin Jeffords, who was killed during WWII.

ā€œI canā€™t imagine as a parent sending my teenage son off to war and him not coming backā€”the pain and the hurt that I know she felt from that. But he gave his life and all of his future yearsā€”decades of life and his future family that he most certainly would have hadā€”to defend this nation and the freedoms that we so frequently take for granted,ā€ Keenum said. ā€œI recognize and realize the suffering and sacrifice thatā€™s involved in defending this nation.ā€

Keenum recognized current service members who are committed to answer the call for ā€œwhatever it may be,ā€ and thanked other veterans attending the dedication.

Ļć½¶Ö±²„Vice President for Strategic Communications Sid Salter shows a photo of his late father, Leo Salter, an Ļć½¶Ö±²„alumnus and WWII veteran who fought at the Battle of Normandy on D-Day. (Photo by Grace Cockrell)
Ļć½¶Ö±²„Vice President for Strategic Communications Sid Salter shows a photo of his late father, Leo Salter, an Ļć½¶Ö±²„alumnus and WWII veteran who fought at the Battle of Normandy on D-Day. (Photo by Grace Cockrell)

Ļć½¶Ö±²„Vice President for Strategic Communications Sid Salter also represented families of WWII veterans during the program and shared memories of his late father, Leo Salter, who survived D-Day at the Battle of Normandy, where many close comrades died in high numbers.

ā€œWhen Dec. 7, 1941 transpired, he felt the need, because of his connections to Mississippi Stateā€”we still were somewhat of a military school back thenā€”he felt the need to enlist and serve and to respond to this attack on our country,ā€ Salter said of his father.

He said for much of the war, his father, who was part of the Signal Corps, enjoyed relative safety but that changed during what he called ā€œthe most terrifying ride of his lifeā€ in approaching Normandy for combat. His comrade was killed right beside him almost immediately, but Salter said his father continued toward the cliffs overlooking Normandy Beach.

ā€œOn that day, 2,600 Americans lost their lives on the beaches of Normandy. My father survived,ā€ he said describing the unimaginably difficult mortal combat that ensued that day.

Salter said 16,000,000 American veterans served during WWII, and about 119,000 of them are left in the U.S. today, with an average age now of 99. About 910 remain in Mississippi.

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