The Times Free Press recently invited readers to nominate veterans to be featured in the "Twenty-One Veteran Salute," a series of profiles of veterans that will be published in the newspaper from Nov. 5 through Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
Submissions poured in from across the three-state region. Nominees range in age from 20 to 100 and include dozens of men and women who served in World War II, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. They are fathers and mothers, siblings and friends. And the tie that connects them is their sacrifice for their country.
A committee will narrow down the list of submissions to 21, and the finalists will be contacted within the coming week.
In an effort to honor all who were nominated, the complete list of names is included below:
Chuck Ayers
Charles Cecil Baker
Burwell B. Bell
Bobby Boehm
Jeff Boehm
Floyd Brown
Haskell "Hank" Clark
George W. Dagley
Louis Erwin Sr.
Lucia Evans
Jeanne M. Ferrere
Jeff Fletcher
Jerimy Goulart
Ronald Alsberry Gracy
Don Gravink
Tristan Lee Hall
John W. Harris
William Hartshorn
Thomas E. Hayes
Vernon Herrod
Charles Jasper Howard
Larry H. Johnson
Carl Labbe
Ralph Mann
Billy Massingale
Bennie McColluch
Gerald McCormick
Terry McKeel
Cheryl Miller
Robert Millican
Richard L. Mullins Jr.
Ed Nunley
The Rev. James Patterson
Andrew Paulson
Damon Larry Phipps Jr.
Don G. Provonsha
Robert L. Rayburn
Bobby Robbins
Thomas Rollins
C. Wayne Shearer
James Harold Silcox
Azelia Maria Sims
Heather Simmons
Glenn Smith
Sam Stansell
Harland Sutherland Jr.
Robert Dean Thomas
Jack Towns
Kenneth Varnell
Jim Wade
Boyd Webb
Hoyt Williams Sr.
Ed Williamson
Donald E. Womack