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 First Lieutenant Frank Lightfoot 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: Dr. Frank K. Lightfoot was born in Columbus, GA, in 1929. He moved to Tuskegee with his family when he was in high school. He also joined the U.S. Navy Reserve while in high school. Frank completed his first year of college at Marion Military Institute, then joined the Army. Frank served his country with honor from January 24, 1951 until September 24, 1952 and earned the rank of First Lieutenant during the Korean War. After his discharge, he joined the Alabama Army National Guard. He finished college at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) in 1954. After graduation he began working on his master’s degree in physical education while teaching and coaching at Macon County High School in Notasulga, AL. In 1957 he was offered a job at Alabama College (now the University of Montevallo) teaching health, physical education and recreation. He started the very first men’s basketball team at Alabama College, and coached the team until 1968. Frank completed his doctorate in education in 1978, and continued teaching at the University of Montevallo until his retirement in 1991. He and his wife, Bobby Kirkland Lightfoot, now reside in Montevallo.