VIDEO: Northeast Mississippi Celebrates Veteran’s Day

ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) – Northeast Mississippi joined in the celebration to honor our veterans today.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Tupelo just opened.

On this Veterans Day, visitors came to find the names of loved ones engraved on the replica of the much larger memorial in Washington D.C.

In Aberdeen at American Legion Post 26, citizens launched balloons with the names of veterans into the sky.

“They have a tag in there to come back if who finds these balloons. This is annual thing we’ve been doing it for several years. And these balloons will be found in all the neighboring states,” said Vietnam Veteran, Buzzy Cullum.

Cullum remembers the lack of respect given to veterans of that era.

“During the Vietnam era the starting of it we had so many protestors. The days of the flower child. These people were disarrayed people that did respect what was being done to protect these people,” continued Cullum.

John Roberts led infantry soldiers as a platoon sergeant in both the Korean War and Vietnam War.

“I think that our veterans that go in to protect this freedom that we enjoy every minute every day and every week, I think if they’re going to send them into harms way they ought to take better care of them when they get back home regardless of what their conditions are,” said Roberts.

Elvis Sledge is a World War Two veteran, who shared the same fate of millions of men at that time.

“I graduated from high school in 1944, three days I was drafted into the army during World War Two,” said Sledge.

Sledge shares the frustration of many of his fellow veterans.

“The federal government as such now and the Veterans Administration is trying to take everything away from the veterans now,” continued Sledge.

William Spruill represents the younger generation of veterans joining the American legion. He has great respect for the men who came before him.

“To me it’s really more celebrating for the ones with wars in the past not for the ones that are regular. They count too but I’m more partial to the wars before I was,” said Spruill.

Spruill. is also bothered that Vietnam veterans received no respect when they returned home.

“Yes it bothers me a good bit. That’s really my biggest gripe I guess you call it. They didn’t get the respect when they came home or glory or whatever is, I just didn’t believe and I didn’t like it and I still don’t like it,” continued the Iraq veteran.

But Spruill says things are getting for today’s vets.

“They are improving. We still have some more improvements to go but it’s just a work in progress,” said Spruill.