October 15, 2025

Richard Poole’s distinguished military career spanned 42 years before his 1997 retirement from the Mississippi Army National Guard at the rank of major general.

Poole, who has been named East Mississippi Community College’s 2025 Alumnus of the Year, was recognized Oct. 11 during the college’s Homecoming activities. Poole was unable to attend the event and his niece, Melinda Brown, accepted Poole’s award on his behalf.

A DeKalb native, during his youth Poole and his family were regular attendees of events at what was then East Mississippi Junior College.

“We went to a lot of the events at Scooba,” Poole said.

In 1955, while a senior at DeKalb High School, Poole enlisted in the Mississippi Army National Guard as a member of the 786th Transportation Company in Scooba. The following year, he transferred to the Guard’s DeKalb unit, where he spent 14 years, ending his time there as detachment commander.

He attended East Mississippi Junior College from 1956-1958 where he was a member of the Lion’s baseball and basketball teams. Poole initially joined Coach Keyes T. Currie’s basketball team as a walk-on, earned a scholarship and worked his way into a starting position on the team. 

“I was a pitcher on the baseball team,” Poole said. “I was pretty good, but I had problems sometimes controlling the ball. There were a couple of guys who were better than I was, but I really enjoyed it.”

In 2019, Poole was inducted into EMCC’s Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1962, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and later attended Officer Candidate School, earning a commission as a second lieutenant in the Mississippi Army National Guard.

In 1970, Poole was promoted to captain and served as a liaison officer with Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment (HHD) for the Mississippi Army National Guard. He remained with the detachment for 10 years and held positions as recruiting officer, executive officer and detachment commander before being appointed battalion commander of the 106^th Support Battalion. 

Poole later became the mobilization planner for Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg before being assigned to Jackson as the chief of logistics operations for the Surface Maintenance Office.

“I was on active duty for three and a half years during that time,” Poole said.

The promotions continued, first to the rank of colonel in March 1988 when Poole was named director of military personnel. Four years later he was promoted to the position of full-time assistant adjutant general. In 1993, he received federal recognition as a brigadier general, overseeing the 66^th Troop Command.

Upon his retirement in November 1997, Poole was promoted to the position of major general of the Mississippi National Guard. Poole is the recipient of numerous federal and state awards, medals and citations during his distinguished military service. His federal awards include the U.S. Army’s Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal, to name a few.

His top state awards are the Mississippi Magnolia Cross, Mississippi Magnolia Medal and the Mississippi War Medal. Poole also received awards from the National Guard Bureau, including the Meritorious Service Award.

“The military has been good to me,” Poole said. “The work was rewarding and I enjoyed my time in service.”

Poole has also supported EMCC’s efforts to create a museum on the college’s Scooba campus to display sports memorabilia and other artifacts dating back to the college’s inception in 1927. That project is in the works.

In addition, he served on the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum Foundation board of directors since its founding, with 17 years as president. He retired from that position in 2019.

Located inside Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, the museum houses the state’s largest collection of historical military artifacts from the early 19^th century to the present.

Poole was among a group who lobbied for a museum at Camp Shelby dedicated to those who trained there prior to being deployed for combat duty in World War I, World War II and all other conflicts up until the current time.

“It was mainly going to be a museum for the National Guard, but there were people from the Navy, the Marines and other branches who wanted to be a part of it and it just kept expanding,” Poole said. “Now there are displays from all the branches of service.”

Poole and his wife, the former Mary Lou Mitchell of Picayune, celebrated their 65^th wedding anniversary this year. The couple resides in Hattiesburg. They have two children, a son Col. (retired) Richard P. Poole and a daughter, Mary Ellen, along with four grandchildren – Rick, Nicholas, Spencer and Abby — and a great grandson, Hunter Poole. 

“I have been blessed with a great career and a wonderful wife and family,” Poole said. “Life has been good to me.”