Harold Stogsdill (Record Photo/Nick Sellers)

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By Nick Sellers | Staff Writer

MADISON – After graduating from high school in rural southeastern Missouri among the Ozarks, Harold Stogsdill made his way to north Alabama in Russellville, to be near family. The year was 1973, and the Vietnam-era drafts were still occurring.

“I was talking to some friends, and they said, ‘You don’t need to fool around and wait to get drafted,’” Stogsdill said.

So, being part of a “Navy family,” as he put it, Stogsdill enlisted in the United States Navy and began his tour of duty on Feb. 8, 1974. He went through basic training at the now-defunct Naval Training Center Orlando and then A-school at Naval Station Great Lakes in Chicago.

Stogsdill was trained to become a dispersing clerk, which compelled him to be in charge of payroll and various financials for nearly every service member in a particular region. He served in this capacity at Naval Base San Diego and Naval Air Station Cecil Field near Jacksonville, Fla.

After that, Stogsdill went to New Orleans and continued to serve as a finance officer. He helped with more of the logistics for most of the service members on leave in the southwest region of the U.S. While in New Orleans, Stogsdill helped computerize the payroll system in 1977.

After coming to a fork in the road with his service, Stogsdill decided to get out of the service in early 1978. He came back to the Shoals area in Alabama and got his associate’s degree at Northwest Shoals Community College, eventually moving to Madison a few years later to take a job in Huntsville. He now resides in southeast Huntsville.

Stogsdill has notably left his mark as leader of several veterans’ groups, including Operation Stand Down, which aims to help homeless veterans across North Alabama obtain housing and careers.

He has also served on the Board of Directors of the United Cerebral Palsy of Huntsville and & Tennessee Valley and the Veteran’s of America Riding Club.

“The way I view it, I’m still serving,” Stogsdill. “I just try to benefit the veteran community the best I can.”