Camp Shelby to host event honoring Vietnam veterans in 2023

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. (WDAM) - This year is shaping up to be another busy one for the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby.

Improvements are planned for several exhibits, including one focusing on Sumrall native Vera Anderson McDonald.

During World War II, she won two national women’s welding championships while working at Ingall’s Shipyard.

Additional exhibits will include a new display on a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The combat team was a segregated unit of Japanese-American soldiers who fought in World War II and trained at Camp Shelby.

And in March, the museum will host a first-ever event honoring those who served in the Vietnam War and their families.

“We plan on having the traveling memorial wall here and try to do a few other special things to celebrate and to honor our Vietnam veterans from the State of Mississippi and their family members and widows,” said Tommy Lofton, Mississippi Armed Forces Museumdirector.

Lofton said in 2023, the museum also should receive its final shipment of three, historic military vehicles from the Anniston Army Depot.

Since 2021, the museum has gotten more than three dozen cannons, vehicles and other artifacts from that facility.

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