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 Joseph Ruben Acosta 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: Sergeant Joseph Ruben Acosta was born. In Buffalo, NY, in 1980. He now calls Centerville his home. This Iraqi War veteran served in the United States Army from 2002 to 2015.

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