Gil Martin can still taste the tear gas.

Martin, the former Ninth Circuit District Attorney, was an eyewitness to one of the most discussed pieces of state history 52 years ago this week when segregationists rioted at the University of Mississippi leading up to the admission of its first black student, James Meredith.

“The columns of the Lyceum were riddled with bullet holes and the smell of tear gas was all over campus,” Martin told Port City Kiwanis on Thursday morning.

Martin, who was a freshman, had been out of town and returned to Oxford Sept. 29, 1962, as the university was preparing to admit Meredith.

“There was a radio announcement asking people to show up and protest,” Martin said.

On campus, Martin found Army trucks, hundreds of guards armed with billy clubs and an angry mob.

“We left the area after seeing protestors light a piece of paper on fire and drop it in the gas tank of a truck,” Martin said.

Martin tried to return to his room, but his dorm was next to the one where Meredith was living, so it was blocked off. He found refuge in fraternity row where a student ran up to him with a tear gas canister he had found lying on the ground. It hadn’t been fully discharged and the gas got in Martin’s eyes.

“I was blinded for a short time,” he said.

After Meredith was admitted to the university, Martin saw him walking to class every day with armed guards. Sometimes an Army jeep would follow.

“He was the bravest man I’ve ever seen,” Martin said of Meredith.

The crowd gathered for Martin’s address Thursday couldn’t have been more appropriate.

Port City Kiwanis was the first Kiwanis International club to be integrated. It is also believed to be the first integrated service club in the South.