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 Private Hugh Bagley 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: Hugh Bagley, son of Willie Bagley, was born in Talladega County, AL in 1897. He served in the U. S. Army with the rank of Private in the Quartermaster Corps during World War I. Prior to his military service he worked at a Furnace in Ionaton, AL. His education was in the school at Ionaton with one of his teachers being Professor Barnhill. He was active in the Methodist Church where he was a Steward. He was also a member of the Masonic Templars of America and politically was a Republican. According to military records Hugh died from disease. Other military records indicate he may have died from methane gas that penetrated his gas mask. Those same records indicate that he died on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918.

World War I began in 1914 and was known as “The Great War.” The United States entered the war on April 6, 1917. The nation drafted 2.8 million men and effectively tipped the war against Germany.  More than 16 million died worldwide of which 116,000 were American servicemen with another 200,000 Americans wounded.

2018 marks the 100^th anniversary of the end of World War I. The American Village invites you to take part in a Poppy Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving at the Colonial Chapel on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m., to be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the National Veterans Shrine.

Melanie Poole is Communications Officer for the American Village and can be reached at MPoole@americanvillage.org.