A tribute and celebration for our veterans

Published 12:45 pm Tuesday, November 2, 2010

In front of the Shelby County War Memorial are (L-R) Mayor Allan Lowe, Stacy Walkup, Bonnie Atchison and Bobby Joe Seales.

At 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 7, Shelby County’s veterans will be honored at a tribute and celebration on the lawn of the Shelby County Courthouse in front of the memorial remembering those men and women who have given their lives during the wars from WWI though Vietnam.

The celebration is sponsored by South Shelby County Chamber and the Shelby County Historical Society. Bonnie Atchison is Chair of the event along with committee members Stacy Walkup and Bobby Joe Seales.

Participating in the tribute are: Ret. Major J. Allan Lowe, mayor of Columbiana; Atchison, Seales and Walkup; Boy Scout Trip 560, led by Scoutmaster Sid Wheeler, Cub Scout Troop 560 led by Amanda Randolph and Girl Scout Troop 493 led by Anita Howard; Vincent (Army), Pelham (Navy), Thompson (Air Force) U.S. JROTC led by Maj. Stan Murrell, Col. Eldon Woody and Maj. Aurelio Garcia III; patriotic music by Atchison’s son, Mike Mason, Austin Foster, and J.T. Gravitt from SCHS; and refreshments provided by Full Moon BBQ.

Guest speakers will be Cmdr. Mike Northcutt of the Shirley-Holloway American Legion Post 131 of Columbiana, and hopefully, Sgt. David Wilson (Wilsonville) of the 135th ESC, currently deployed in Afghanistan.

Shelby County is well known for the hundreds of military service men and women from our county who have served and are serving to keep us free.

Some of the brave men and women currently serving from the Columbiana area are: Tommy Eremus, Brantley Moore, Jonathan Nassarian, Gerald Nichols, Brittney Price, Lyssa Scott, Jeremy Walden, Dexter Carden, William Prosser, Erich Cousins, Ramsey Bentley, Joey Greene, Justin Wheeler, Mike Patterson, William Harrell III and Phil Vick.

Sunday’s tribute is to honor all who are currently serving, those who have served, and “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” (from the Columbiana American Legion monument).

Phoebe Donald Robinson can be reached by e–mail at phoeberobinson@bellsouth.net.

Shelby County

War Memorial

Erected by the American Legion 1954

-World War I

1917-1918

John G. Bailey

Girome Blankenship

Luther P. Crim

Jake Evans

James W. Fancher

James J. Fortenberry

Odies L. Fowler

James Cliett Hendrick

Willie Joseph Holloway

Albert G. Hudson

Ocie Womac Jones

Oso Lonnie Jones

Elva M. Jordan

William Thomas Lee

Walter J. Logan

Charles Luther Martin

James R. Milstead

William F. Ozley

Harlan Palmer

Ira P. Patterson

Arthur T. Pope

George Ramsey

Martin Dewey Seale

Edward Hubert Shirley

Winfred Shirley

Thomas L. Smith

Jesse H. Taylor

Ernest A. Turner

Leon Ware

George O. Watts

Stanley Zolesky

-World War II

1941-1945

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 Cahoon

Marshall R. Carpenter

John Clay

Jack Collins

Arthur Reed Collum

Edgar Connell

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

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. Raybon

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

1950-1953

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

1964-1975

Will D. Billings

Josslyn F. Blakely, Jr.

Claude M. Bunch

Oscar A. Connell

Emmett L. Davis

Melvin W. Gunter

Marvin Head, Jr.

James R. Lindsay

Victor A. Mohr

William E. Stracner

Donald Wooley

About Phoebe Donald Robinson

I am President of Donald Real Estate and Ins. Co., Inc., a company that my grandfather , Charles J. Donald, founded in 1925. I am the third generation owner of the business. I am also the Columbiana Columnist for the Shelby County Reporter.

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