David Hughes McElreath serves as our Mississippi Veterans Affairs Board Vice-Chairman and is a professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Mississippi. A native of Oxford, Mississippi, he comes from a law enforcement family.

He began his law enforcement career in December 1972 when he was appointed a Patrolman for the Oxford, Mississippi Police Department. Over the next five decades, his active law enforcement, corrections, military, and academic career includes time as an Oxford, Mississippi Police Officer, Missouri State Park Ranger, and Deputy Sheriff with Forrest County, Mississippi Sheriff’s Department.

McElreath served over thirty years in the United States Army/Mississippi National Guard, United States Marine Corps, and National Guard of Mississippi, retiring from the National Guard of Mississippi in 2016 after serving as Commanding General of the Mississippi State Guard, which is a component of the Mississippi Military Department with the Mississippi Army National Guard and the Mississippi Air Guard. His military and Department of Defense/Department of State contractor service included tours in Eastern Europe within the former Warsaw Pact Nations with the Partners in Peace initiative as well as deployments into Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.

Colonel Cynthia L. Smith is the Commander of the 186th Air Refueling Wing, Key Field Air National Guard Base, Meridian, Mississippi. The 186th Air Refueling Wing provides over 1,100 personnel and eight KC-135R aircraft to Air Mobility Command for worldwide operations.

Col. Smith is a traditional Guard pilot who has served multiple tours overseas. She has performed aircrew and staff duties supporting contingency operations, including Joint/Deliberate Forge, Deny Flight, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Inherent Resolve and Freedom’s Sentinel. In 2010, she supported a third flying mission at Key Field, the MC-12W, through the Project Liberty program.

Richard Wilson is a native of Collierville, Tennessee, but now resides in our Mississippi Veterans Home in Oxford.

Wilson served in the Navy during World War II and fought at Iwo Jima, witnessing one of the most iconic images in history.

In this episode, Wilson discusses his journey as a small-town kid who leaves his home for the first time to join the military and the many places he's seen because of that singular moment.