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 Lieutenant Colonel Jack Reid Armistead 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: Jack Armistead was born in West Point, Georgia, attended grammar school at Shades Cahaba in Homewood and graduated from Shades Valley High School (1959). He completed ROTC at Auburn University, and graduated at Samford University, where he transferred his junior year. Jack joined U.S. Air Force in July 1964. He graduated from Officer Training School at Lackland AFB in Texas. He graduated from Navigator School and Advanced Bomber Training School. Armistead served 107 combat missions during the Vietnam War. He went on to earn an MBA from the University of Detroit following the war, and worked 44 years in the banking industry, retiring as a senior vice president in 2013. Jack and his wife, Carole, have two children and five grandchildren, and live in Homewood. Jack got his civilian pilot’s license in August 1989. He also served in the Alabama Air National Guard from 1975-1991. He is an active member of Bluff Park United Methodist Church, a member of Civitans and the Birmingham Aero Club.

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