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 Sergeant Mitchell Alan Spears 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: Mitchell Alan Spears served his country with honor in the U.S. Marine Corps from July 30, 1970 until July 29, 1973 achieving the rank of Sergeant. During his military service he was stationed in Japan, Okinawa, Cuba, and Jamaica. In 1973 he married Pleasia Fochtmann. He and his wife had one daughter, Audrey. Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Montevallo. He passed the state bar in 1983 and practiced law in Montevallo for the next 34 years. He served as President of the Shelby County Bar Association in 1998, was a lifetime NRA member, a Mason, a member of the American Legion, served on the Montevallo Park & Recreation Board and coached girls league softball for eight years. His hobbies included golf, playing “hide-and-seek” with his granddaughter, and range shooting with his grandson.