KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

City officials have announced this year’s featured speaker for the Tullahoma Veterans Day Ceremony will be Col. Grant Mizell, commander of Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC).

The city of Tullahoma are inviting both veterans and the public to attend the Veterans Day Ceremony on Monday, Nov. 11, at the South Jackson Performing Arts Center, located at 404 S. Jackson St., at 11 a.m. At this time, the City of Tullahoma will pause to honor America’s veterans and celebrate their contributions to defending the nation’s security and freedom.

Patriotic music will be performed by Curtis Hice, Marine Corps veteran, members of the Tullahoma High School Brass Ensemble and the THS Chamber Singers choir.

There will be presentations of the POW/MIA Chair by the American Legion Post 43 and a flag folding ceremony by Boy Scout Troop 402 with Lyle Russell. This year’s speakers will include Col. Pat Eagan, USAF, retired, Col. Jim Jolliffe, USAF, retired, and Col. Grant Mizell.

Prior to the Veterans Day Ceremony, Tullahoma City Schools are inviting all veterans to participate in the school district’s fifth annual Veterans Day Tribute Train on Monday, Nov. 11. School officials ask that all veterans gather at Wilkins Stadium, behind Tullahoma High School, no later than 8:25 a.m., as the Tribute Train will depart at 8:30 a.m.

From there, the tribute train will depart THS and make its way to Jack T. Farrar Elementary School, West Middle School, Bel-Aire Elementary School, Robert E. Lee Elementary School, East Middle School and East Lincoln Elementary School before ending at South Jackson Performing Arts Center for the city’s Veterans Day Ceremony. During each school stop, students, faculty and staff at each school will greet the tribute train with American flags, homemade signs of encouragement and thanks for the veterans and their service to the country. 

About Col. Grant Mizell

Col. Grant A. Mizell is commander of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex, headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. The Complex employs more than 3,000 people and comprises 95 aerospace test capabilities across seven states. With facilities at Arnold Air Force Base in middle Tennessee, with operating locations at Ames Research Center, Mountain View and Edwards AFB, California; Peterson AFB, Colorado; the Federal Research Center at White Oak, Maryland; Holloman AFB, and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and Hill AFB, Utah, AEDC offers a suite of test capabilities to simulate speed, temperature, pressure and other parameters over a wide range to meet the needs of aerospace system developers. The test facilities simulate flight from subsonic to hypersonic speeds at altitudes from sea level to space.

Mizell was commissioned in 1999 through the United States Air Force Academy where he earned a bachelor’s degree in operations research. He has 24 years of active-duty experience, from Little Rock Air Force Base and Ramstein Air Base as a combat pilot in C-130 aircraft, through Test Pilot School and an exchange opportunity with the Royal Air Force, to two assignments on the Air Staff. Mizell was the commander of the 645th Aeronautical Systems Squadron, Big Safari, served as a professor and the military fellow to the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, was the Joint Staff’s liaison to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and was the Chief of JOCE, the primary liaison between the Senior U.S. Military Officer in Korea and the Republic of Korea Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mizell is a command pilot with over 3,200 hours as an instructor, evaluator and test pilot with both the United States Air Force and Royal Air Force, flying over 54 aircraft types including the C-130E/H/J, HC/MC/EC-130, C-17, Tristar L-1011, Tucano, and RC-135. He accumulated more than 580 combat flight hours on six deployed tours in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, in the Balkans, and in support of contingency operations in Africa.