By MELANIE POOLE / Special to the Reporter

The Veteran of the Week is sponsored by the National Veterans Shrine and Register of Honor at the American Village — honoring America’s veterans and telling the stories of their service and sacrifice for the cause of liberty.

“The American Village is pleased to join the Shelby County Reporter in recognizing Sgt. Robert Brown as Veteran of the Week,” American Village founder and CEO Tom Walker said. “He is representative of the hundreds of thousands of Alabamians who have risked it all for the sake of our country and its freedom. To all veterans we owe a debt we can never fully repay.”

Visit the website, Veteransregisterofhonor.com, today and add your loved ones to the Register of Honor. Help us honor, recognize, respect and remember our country’s veterans.

Here are highlights about this week’s Veteran of the Week: Sgt. Robert Brown was born in Greene, AL in 1922. He served three years (1942-1945) in the U.S. Army during WWII and was a member of the combined Allied Expeditionary Force that landed on the beaches of Normandy, France on D-Day. He saw combat under the command of Gen. George S. Patton, who helped spearhead the drive that liberated France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Brown was part of the 761st “Black Panther” Tank Battalion, which Patton noted was the first group of “Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army.” He was also part of a force that liberated a concentration camp. He was involved in the fiercest military battles that took place during WWII, which included the battle of St. Lo, the battle of Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge. For his service he received four Bronze Stars.