VIDALIA — Sherman Briggs said it was love at first sight when he first met Jerry at The Sandwich Bar in Ferriday.

“We just clicked,” Sherman said Friday, while sitting with Jerry, his wife of 48 years, on the front porch of their Apple Street house in Vidalia where The Dart landed. “I love her today as much as I did the day I (first saw) her.”

Jerry said The Sandwich Bar was the place for young people to gather in Ferriday.

“It was fun,” Jerry said. “Everybody had radios going, and everybody was listening to a variety of music. That’s all it was. You couldn’t even hardly get to the street because that’s where everybody was …”

On Sept. 26 the couple will celebrate their 49^th wedding anniversary, and Sherman said the couple have faced many challenges together through those years.

“When we first got married, I (had just come) back from Vietnam,” Sherman said. “I had a lot of problems with the things I was involved with in Vietnam, and I had a lot of trouble getting over it. They finally diagnosed me at the VA hospital with PTSD.”

Sherman said for three or four years, Jerry took care of him after the medication he was given made him want to sleep all the time.

“She was so great,” Sherman said. “She went a step beyond what normal people do. She has been there every step of the way, helping me keep pushing, telling me we could get benefits from the VA. Just keep hanging in there.”

Sherman said for about two years he would often sleep almost 24-hours a day, only to come out occasionally to find something to eat and then return to his room.

After years of battling the system, Jerry said Sherman finally won 100-percent veterans service-connected disability compensation.

“It was hard,” Jerry said. “I get very angry. I get very upset when I see people that need it; they fight for it. They deserve it. It took us four years with a lawyer to win 100-percent service connect.”

Jerry said after traveling to different hospitals and listening to other veterans, if she had the money and education, she would travel and fight for veterans to make sure they get the care they need.

“It needs to be known that veterans do need love,” Jerry said. “They need compassion. They need hugs. They need support.”

Jerry said she and Sherman have come a long way since they first met, and the relationship has grown from love at first sight to being able to read each other’s thoughts.
“He’ll say, ‘Do you want Popeye’s?’ And I’ll say, ‘That’s exactly what I was thinking.’ We’re in tune. We’re synced together,” Jerry said. “We’re still madly in love. We’re friends. We’re companions. We support each other 100 percent.”