The University honored military alumni and all service members Saturday in conjunction with Veterans Day.
During a 9 a.m. ceremony on the Parade Ground, 12 alumni, both alive and deceased, were inducted into the Hall of Honor for Military Alumni.
Clifton Lee received the honor for his late grandfather, U.S. Army Major General Joseph Alsop Redding. Redding served in the Mexican Border War with generals “Black Jack” Pershing, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower and George Patton. He later served in World War I and was gassed in France. Redding received a Purple Heart for the incident, Lee said.
“He’s a wonderful man and deserves this very much,” Lee said.
He said he started “crying like a baby” when he received the phone call about his grandfather being honored.
“It was long overdue,” Lee said.
Redding was a baseball fan and would often check Lee out of school to take him to LSU baseball games under the pretense of going to a doctor’s appointment.
“’Til the day she died, my mother never realized that he had done that,” Lee said. “He’d literally be sneaking me in one end of the parking lot when she’d be pulling in the other to come pick us up.”
Lee said Redding was a “fine man” and a great representative of America.
Jeanne McNeil went to the ceremony with her family to celebrate her father-in-law’s induction. She said she was honored for her father-in-law, John McNeil.
“It’s been a wonderful experience and very inspiring and patriotic,” she said.
McNeil said the inductees and their families were treated to a reunion, a luncheon, a breakfast, a meal in the PMAC and a presentation of the honorees before the Mississippi State game Saturday night.
She said John was nominated last year by a Cadets of the Ole War Skule friend, but he did not receive the award last November. She said nominees must fill out an application and be a member of Cadets of the Ole War Skule.
McNeil said nominees can sometimes wait for two or three years before being inducted, but for John, it only took a year. She said John will be 91 in March, so her family was excited that his waiting process was short.
Retired U.S. Air Force Major Mac Wallace was among the veteran alumni who were inducted into the Hall of Honor.
“It’s a great honor, a very humbling honor, but a very great honor,” Wallace said. “I’m proud of this country and proud of what I can be as a part of it.”
While he was in school, Wallace said he was a part of the ROTC.
“I’m delighted that as a country we can honor our veterans,” he said.
During the ceremony, a portion of the Tiger Band played the National Anthem while a jet flew over the stadium.
In another part of the ceremony, two cannons were fired as part of the 21-Gun Salute. After the cannons had finished firing, thick smoke clouded the Parade Ground and the military trumpet song “Taps” was played.
Before the game Saturday evening, the honorees were brought out to the center of the football field and introduced to the stadium, McNeil said.
She said many fans came to congratulate the veterans after the introduction.
“It was very emotional. It was a very proud moment for our family,” McNeil said.
- Kirby Allen
- Donald Bulloch
- Edward Capron Jr.
- Franklin Foil
- Stephen Harmon Jr.
- the late Leon LeSueur
- John McNeil
- William Meyers
- John Pugh Jr.
- the late Joseph Redding
- the late Stanley Shaw
- Mac Wallace
A military parade was held Saturday morning in honor of twelve LSU alumni who were inducted on the Parade Ground into LSU’s military Hall of Honor.
