For nearly two-thirds of his life, A.J. “Buddy” Holliday has been serving his community and his country.

Holliday, who turns 68 next week, started as a Vicksburg police officer in 1968 and his service to city, county and country hasn’t stopped since.

“I got into law enforcement because I wanted to help people. That still motivates me. I can’t do some of the things I could when I was younger, but I help where I can and do what I can,” Holliday said.

Holliday spent 20 years at VPD, including nine years as chief.

“I was 29 years old when I became chief. I didn’t really know the mayor who appointed me. I had had met him one or two times,” Holliday said. “I always thought I was picked because of my age and I wasn’t in anybody’s clique.”

During his tenure at VPD, Holliday spent time in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War era, though he wasn’t deployed to theater of war.

After his retirement from VPD in 1988, he was a pilot for the Corps of Engineers.

“I wanted to keep working. I didn’t want to retire,” he said.

After diabetes caused him to lose his commercial pilot’s license in 2009, he went to work for what he thought was going to be a few weeks at the Warren County Sheriff’s Office under Sheriff Martin Pace, who had been a police intern during Holliday’s tenure at VPD.

“The second day, I told him it’s too much like home. I don’t think I want to leave,” Holliday said.

Pace said Holliday’s experience has been a major asset to the sheriff’s office.

“He does a tremendous job for us. The vast majority of his time is spent managing the equipment needs of the law enforcement division of the sheriff’s office,” Pace said.