Next Tuesday, our country will take a moment to honor and celebrate those who have fought for the freedom we all hold dear.

It’s a freedom we tend to take for granted sometimes; but it’s always there. Everytime we stop to pray before a meal, pick up a newspaper and read a story or gather with our friends in support or protest of some issue, we exercise the freedoms we are so fortunate to have.

It’s imperative that we remember those who fought so that we could live in this free country.

Shelby County has taken steps to honor a few of its own with the Veteran’s Memorial on the lawn of the county courthouse. Let’s all pause this week to remember our veterans, especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

The monument on the memorial, erected in 1954, states: &uot;Dedicated to the memory of the brave men from Shelby County who gave their lives that freedom and justice should not perish from the Earth.&uot;

World War I (1917-18)

John G. Bailey

Girome Blankenship

Luther P. Crim

Jake Evans

James W. Fancher

James J. Fortenbury

Odie L. Fowler

James Clett Hendrick

Willie Joseph Holloway

Albert G. Hudson

Ocie Womack Jones

Oso Lonnie Jones

Elva M. Jordan

William Thomas Lee

Walter Logan

Charles Luther Martin

James R. Milstead

William P. Ozley

Harlan Palmer

Ira P. Patterson

Arthur T. Pope

George Ramsey

Martin Dewey Seale

Edward Hubert Shirley

Thomas L. Smith

Jesse H. Taylor

Ernest A. Turner

Leon Ware

George O. Watts

Stanley Zolesky

World War II (1941-45)

Joe Adams

Curtis Alexander

Dumes Alexander

Jasper B. Askins

Jack C. Bailey

Robert H. Barnes Jr.

Arlton E. Bearden

Melvin Boyd Jr.

Clarence F. Brantley

Howard J. Brasher

James F. Brasher Jr.

Silas J. T. Brasher

Aubrey Cahson

Marshall R. Carpenter

John Clay

Jack Collins

Arthur Reed Collum

William L. Cox

Carl J. Crawford

Lynwood W. Cross

Robert L. Davis

Conrad C. Dean

Webb Lee Eady

John M. Fullman

William E. Ford

Dewell B. Fulgham

James W. Gaither

Louis Glass

Vernon L. Goodwin

James H. Green

Max O. Holcombe

Ordis Oliver Hollis

Joseph Hutchson

H. W. Beane

Edgar Connell

Tildon D. Jenkins

Arthur Wayne Lauderdale

Woodrow Lawley

Appleton Lee

James Pat Lee

Roland O. Lee

Francis M. Leonard

Samuel R. Lester

Andrew A. Lowery

James Clay Lucas

Lee D. Lucas Jr.

Milton M. Martin

Henry C. Mathis Jr.

Gordon Merrill

Herbert L. Morgan

Wilbur Lee Naish

Guy T. O’Kelley

Charles H. Patterson

David H. Prestridge

Furman B. Prothro

Carl E. Raybo

Thomas M. Reynolds Jr.

Joe E. Rich

Newton J. Riley

Thomas F. Seale

Darius A. Sims

Edward S. Smith

James Smith

Lloyd George Smith

Luther L. Smith

Marion F. Smitherman

Robert W. Smitherman

Gilford Vassar Jr.

Earnest F. Walker

John B. Ward

Albert West

Morris M. West

Charles Wooten

Miller A. Yates Jr.

Korean War (1950-53)

Arnold G. Davis

John W. Freeman

James Willard Garner

Merritt Gray

Charles T. Horton

O.C. Marcus Jr.

William Earnest Marold

John H. Morris Jr.

Robert E. Overton

Walter Partridge Jr.

Howard E. Wallace

L. B. Woodson

Vietnam War (1964-75)

Will D. Billings

Josslyn F. Blakely Jr.

Claude M. Bunch

Oscar A. Connell

Emmett L. Davis

William E. Stragner

Melvin W. Gunter

Marvin Head Jr.

James R. Lindsay

Victor A. Mohr

Donald Woole