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 Major Peyton S. Mathis, Jr. 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: Major Peyton Mathis, Jr. was born in Montgomery, AL in 1916. He served during World War II in the U.S. Army Air Corp 44th Fighter Squadron. He was killed in action in the jungles of Guadalcanal on June 5, 1944 when his P-38J Lightning fighter plane developed engine trouble and crashed. His remains were not recovered until 2014. He returned home with a hero’s welcome to Alabama on January 3, 2015 for burial with full military honors. He was a graduate of Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery (1932) and Vanderbilt University, where he played college football.

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