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Hundreds of Troops Ordered to Mississippi

Sept. 29, 1962 - Hundreds of U.S. Army troops and about 500 U.S marshals are in the huge Memphis Naval Air station tonight. The Government flew men in during the day for a showdown next week with Gov. Ross R. Barnett of Mississippi over the court-ordered desegregation of the University of Mississippi. President Kennedy ordered an Army Engineer battalion to move into Mississippi to set up a tent city for the marshals. Newsmen were barred from the air station 18 miles north of Memphis, but they counted 16 helicopters as they landed and discharged troops. Earlier, about 400 men had been flown in by Navy transport planes. The armed soldiers were confined to the base.


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