Stewart looks back at his 36 years of service

Tony Stewart served 36 years in the National Guard in the 367th Maintenance Company out of Philadelphia.

This included a tour of duty overseas in 2003 and 2004 in Iraq. He retired at age 60 and now he and his son run a small yard service business in town. He worked 22 years at Camp McCain in Grenada.

Stewart said he enjoyed his years of service where he  rose to rank of staff sergeant. It is especially meaningful on Veterans Day which will celebrated both nationally and locally Friday morning with services starting at 11 a.m.

The annual service here will be held at DeWitt DeWeese Park. Stewart, a member of the American Legion Post 238, will sing “God Bless America” during the program.

The guest speaker will be Lt. Col. Chris P. Clark who serves full-time with the Mississippi Army National Guard and presently serves as Mississippi’s surface maintenance manager responsible for the readiness of all surface equipment in the Guard.

“We remember those who gave their lives on Memorial Day,” said Stewart. 

“But Veterans Day is the time we recognize all who served our country and are still among the living. Traveling around, you see a lot of veterans. Some are in good shape. Some aren’t. This day honors them.  It’s a special day.”

During his time overseas, Stewart said there was fighting with the enemy all around him.

“We were in Iraq inside the compound,” Stewart said. 

“I was a firefighter and we didn’t get to go out that much. But you could hear the fighting. It was all around us.”

Stewart said he traveled across Iraq with U.S. forces and was in Bagdad for a while.

“Our compound was  inside the city,” Stewart said. “We were in Iraq for six months but the whole deployment was for about a year. We did transportation, generator mechanics, we did it all.

“It was a bad time for the Iraqis and a scary time for us. Most of us had never been out of the country before.”

Stewart said his American Legion post meets monthly.

One thing Stewart is proud of is the new Fallen Veterans monument in DeWitt DeWeese Park.

“People who don’t know about the people from Neshoba County who have died fighting for their country, can come out here and look at all these names,” Stewart said. 

“In our post, there is the name of a soldier who was killed overseas and his remains were never found. I am glad to see all of this out here and the way it turned out. They are looking for more names for the bricks.”