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. Frank Dennis Wilkes 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: Frank was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He moved to Alabama and attended Marshall County High School, Snead State Junior College and the University of Alabama. He and his wife June now reside in Guntersville, Alabama. Frank served in the Vietnam War from 1970-1972, earning the rank of Sergeant E-5. He also served our country as Director of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs for 25 years. Frank is a proud member of the American Village Board of Trustees.

In his own words: “When I returned from Vietnam the people of Guntersville welcomed me home. That was special. I didn’t talk about my experiences for a long time. The other members of my family didn’t talk about their terrible and horrific memories. It’s something we lived with. We depended on God and our values to get us through.”