For the 29th year in a row, officials from the Hattiesburg Veterans Committee are seeking nominations for the Hattiesburg Veteran of the Year, an award designed to locate and recognize those who have served in the United States Armed Forces, returned home and continued the tradition of serving their community.
Applications will be accepted until October 23 for the upcoming honoree, who will be introduced on Veterans Day – which will fall on November 10 – during Hattiesburg’s annual Veterans Day program at Veterans Memorial Park on West Pine Street.
“This is a tradition that, we believe, shares with our citizens the kind of city that we all call home,” said retired Colonel Sheila Varnado, who serves as chairperson of the Hattiesburg Veterans Selection Committee. “There are people who care enough that they would like to know about some of our veterans who have come home from wherever they were that they serve, and they continue to serve.
“That’s really what this was designed to highlight, and most of the people who are selected as Veteran of the Year, they are well-known in this community. So it’s no surprise when they are selected. But it’s not as quite well-known that they’ve still been out there serving. We believe that this is a very positive message, and maybe this will encourage others who feel like they can’t make a difference – you can always make a difference in whatever it is that you continue to do.”
All community members are invited to submit nominations for the award. The basic requirements are as follows; candidates must:
- Be a resident of the Hattiesburg area for the last five years in Forrest or Lamar counties;
- Be a veteran of any service branch of the United States Armed Forces;
- Have received an honorable discharge for military service (a copy of the DD Form 214 is required for proof of that matter);
- Have demonstrated the spirit of good citizenship and patriotism; and
- Have made some significant contributions not only to fellow veterans, but to the overall betterment of the larger Hattiesburg community.
“Of course, we’re all veterans and we served honorably in the military, but this is not about how we served in the military,” Varnado said. “It’s about what we did when we came back to our home city – whether you started from here, grew up here, or whether you chose to make this your home once you left the military.
“It’s about what you have done in this community – how you have served this community, not just what you did in the military. So I really want that message to be known.”
The award’s selection committee is made up of all living previous recipients of the honor who still live in the greater Hattiesburg community. To nominate a veteran for the Veteran of the Year award, contact Varnado via email at varnados@comcast.net to request an application template.
Varnado said the amount of nominations usually varies from year to year, with officials sometimes receiving 10 or more applications.
“Some years, we may have a lot; some years we may not (have that many),” she said. “So it really just varies, but of course my role is to try to get out there and at least let the community be aware that you’re able to nominate someone.
“We are not just a closed, little group where only people within our group are the ones who can be nominated. We opened it up to the public, so that if they are aware of someone who perhaps we’re not, there is an opportunity to take a few moments to write up a narrative and send that in.”
