A picture of an American flag with soldiers and the Statue of Liberty superimposed on top of the flag

VOM – April 2025

Thomas Raymond Rogers U.S. Navy 1981 – Thomas Raymond Rogers was born on 1 April 1958 in Phillippi, West Virginia (WV), and grew up on a dairy farm outside of Lumberport, WV. He graduated from Lumberport High School in 1975 and attended West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV, where he

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A picture of an American flag with soldiers and the Statue of Liberty superimposed on top of the flag

VOM – June 2025

Marcus Jermaine Harvey, Sr. U.S. Marine Corps 1995 – 2003 / TN Air National Guard 2005 – 2010 Marcus Jermaine Harvey, Sr., was born June 28, 1977, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Charles Harvey, Sr., and Carolyn Bonds. He attended Tipton County Schools, graduating from Covington High School in May 1995.

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Vintage military aircraft flying over ocean.

VOM – March 2025

Robert (Bob) Vern Lakey U.S. Navy  Back in the 5O’s, young men were subject to the four-year draft. When Bob was an Indiana high school senior, one of his teachers was a Reserve Officer. He talked some of the young men into joining the Reserves instead of waiting for their

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Cemetery with rows of headstones and trees.

VOM – September 2025

Phillip Farmer U.S. Army / TN Air National Guard 1968 – 1974 & 1980 – 2005 Phillip Farmer was born on Oct. 6, 1949, in Memphis, Tennessee. He grew up in Covington where he graduated from Byars Hall High School in 1967. During the height of the Vietnam conflict in

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Sailors in uniform standing on aircraft carrier.

VOM – August 2025

Sami Lynn Phillips U.S. Navy 1978 – 2020 Retired Navy Chief Petty Officer Sami Lynn Phillips was born on Oct. 29, 1960, in Elgin, Illinois. After her June 1978 graduation from Palatine High School in Palatine, IL, she joined the Navy Delayed Enlistment Program and turned eighteen during bootcamp at

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Helicopter crew member photographing landscape below.

VOM – July 2025

Valarie R. Bennett U.S. Navy 1966 – 2004 Valarie was born in May 1966 in Tuskegee, Ala., the third of her mother’s four children. The name on her birth certificate was Blank Blank Bennett, a common way to complete a birth certificate for a baby not expected to survive. Eighteen years

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Soldiers inside military aircraft during transit.

VOM – May 2025

Neil Andrew Higgins U.S. Army 1984 – 2009 Born in London, England and raised in Jamaica, West Indies, Neil Higgins was commissioned in the United States Army as a Distinguished Military Graduate from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in 1984. Some of his key operational assignments during his 25 years

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A photograph of a 135R Stratotanker flying while refueling an aircraft

VOM – January 2025

Robert Earl Beckett, Jr. USAF 1967-1991 Robert Earl Beckett, Jr. was born Feb. 5, 1944, and grew up in South Memphis where he was captain of the 1962 South Side High School football team. At his graduation, the school honored him by retiring his jersey number. After Earl graduated from

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