ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch honored two veterans Saturday for the 10th Annual Veterans Day ceremony at Williams Park.
Louis Williams and Colonel Marie Stagg accepted awards for their service protecting the country.
“I feel good about this, but then there are so many others that are missing this, and I wish everybody could sample some of it,” said Williams, an 85-year-old St. Petersburg native.
He served in the Army and Air Force during his 13 years of service.
After he was discharged in 1969, he continued protecting people as a police officer for four years. He also made a living as a mailman until he retired in 2003.
“For me, it was a ball. It was a ball I had it made,” he said.
Colonel Stagg was also honored for serving active duty in intelligence operations for more than 30 years.
“I’m just thankful, and I’m glad there are opportunities such as this to stop and say it mattered,” she said.
She served in several wars, including Desert Storm and Iraq. One thing that’s helped her during the hard times is an American flag her sister sent her.
“I carried it everywhere with me.” “Where you would have a tourniquet, I would keep it stuffed in there just to remind me of my family and what it was all for,” she said.
Retiring in 2017, she dedicated her time to becoming a physical therapist. She opened her practice in 2020 and says what she learned in the Army has transferred to her career.
“There is a human element of not just a need, but the person that came in with the need, that’s the perspective that I like. So again, it’s feeding into my human intel background,” she said.
