The chairs were full before the ceremony even began.

Family, old friends, city officials and fellow veterans packed the Tipton County Museum Tuesday night. The mayor of Covington was there. So was State Rep. Debra Moody, former alderwoman Minnie Bommer, current aldermen John Edwards and Jean Johnson, and commanders from the VFW and the American Legion. And tucked in among them, were people who had known Marcell Frost since he was small – people who had watched him leave Covington with a dream and waited, for 43 years, for him to come home.

“It was time to return to the base camp,” Marcell said when his turn came to speak. Someone called back from the crowd: “It’s time to come home.”

He had finally done just that.

Born here, built elsewhere

Marcell Frost was born and raised in Covington, one of 13 children. By the time he had grown up, his brothers had established something of a precedent for military service. It was Marcell who would take it furthest.

Edwards, a childhood friend, spoke at the ceremony and remembered the earliest signs.

“As long as I’ve known Marcell, I actually reflected on it,” he said. “Marcel has always been a leader. He wasn’t a follower; he was a leader, and I could see those traits in him as a child.”

The two had grown up together in what Edwards called meager upbringings. They were born, he said, “with a plastic spoon in our mouth.” The world of information technology that would define Marcell’s career was nowhere in sight then.

“The closest we got to computers were Pac-Man machines,” Edwards joked. “But this man actually adapted and learned and became at the top of his field.”

Marcell joined the Army with big dreams and a drive to make those dreams a reality. He wanted to learn. He wanted to see the world.

He got his wish.

Once he had a military ID, he discovered he could access a Navy base. Then, he said, he found out he could get on the aircraft and they’d bring him back by evening. He rode around the world on Saturdays, back and forth, just going.

“The world opened up,” he told the crowd. “It’s nothing wrong with serving. It’s nothing like serving. Serving is the best thing you can do.”

Second to none

Marcell rose through the enlisted ranks to Sergeant First Class, an E-7, before accepting a commission as a Warrant Officer. Over his 22-plus-year career, he supervised both military and civilian personnel, and his technical and analytical abilities helped him stand out among his peers.

He was an expert in designing and managing telecommunications links, data transfers and information systems architecture over large-scale computer-assisted war-game simulations. He integrated commercial off-the-shelf equipment to support secure and non-secure voice, data and video teleconferencing for contingency, joint and combined signal operations. He managed information systems support functions for command, control, communications and computers at all echelons of the Army.

Wherever Marcell went, information technology upgrades soon followed and efficiency increased.

He developed and implemented a new business model to streamline operations and make better use of limited resources – not only in equipment, but in personnel. He documented both technical and strategic aspects of operations, encouraging peers and subordinates alike to prepare for increasing responsibilities.

His leadership and supervisory abilities, coupled with his vast technical knowledge and his unique ability to identify challenges and execute positive solutions, undoubtedly saved time, money, and an untold number of lives.

His reputation for discipline, self-reliance, and technical and tactical proficiency was unsurpassed.

By the time Marcell retired in October 2005, he had earned three Meritorious Service Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, five Army Achievement Medals, an Army Superior Unit Award, three Army Good Conduct Medals, two National Defense Service Medals, three Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbons, an Army Service Ribbon, three Overseas Service Ribbons, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, an M-16 Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge and a Driver and Mechanic Badge with Driver W Bar.

‘We’re glad you’re here’

The ceremony drew something of a homecoming crowd. Frost was nominated for Veteran of the Month by Alderwoman Johnson and Helen Johnson-Tyus.

State Rep. Debra Moody brought a proclamation and announced that a flag had been flown over the Capitol in Nashville in his honor.

“We are grateful,” Moody told him. “Thank you and God bless you.”

Veterans organizations lined up to salute him. The VFW. The American Legion. The Military Women Across America Memphis Bells Unit 151. The Military Officers Association of America Memphis Chapter. The Disabled American Veterans Chapter 116. One commander offered to pay his first year’s dues himself.

But the most striking words came from family.

One of his sisters described the particular terror and love of watching a younger brother go off to the military.

“When they took him away from me, I learned how to pray,” she said. “I learned how to pray because them two was my heart because they was the last ones.”

His brother recalled the phone calls over the years – the times one of them would hit a wall, feel like giving up, and Marcell would ask the same question every time: What’s your goal in life?

“Don’t give up on life,” he said. “Always keep it moving. I love you for that.”

Former Alderwoman Minnie Bommer, who had known Marcell most of his life, was moved to speak about what it meant to have him back. She told him how happy she was when he came by her house and told her he was moving home – and that he had bought Aunt Hattye (Yarbrough)’s house.

Hattye Yarbrough, who passed away in November 2024, was a former teacher, librarian, and community educator who spent her life preserving African American history in Tipton County. To the people in that room, her house meant something.

“I know if Aunt Hattye was here she’d be smiling down,” Bommer said, “because she cared about all of us.”

Stuart Tillman, who had come from Kansas City, Mo. spoke about the quality he believed set Marcell apart from most people.

“He carries this everywhere,” Tillman said, meaning the community, the connections, the sense of where he came from. “When I come in here, I meet people. It’s contagious.”

Back at the base camp

Marcell is turning 63 soon. He is back in Covington, making what he called “a lot of progress.” The city has been good to him, he said. He’s met new people and is enjoying what he is doing.

He stood at the front of that room and looked out at what he described as two families – his military family on one side and his family from home on the other – and said he didn’t quite know what to do with all of it.

He had been gone 43 years, but the people in that room had not forgotten him.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” he said. “I’m just grateful to be here.”

The Tipton County Museum honors a veteran each month. To nominate someone, or find out more information, see https://tiptoncountymuseum.org/veteran-of-the-month.