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VOM – May 2021

Eddie Nep Wilson (4 Dec 1925 – 26 Aug 1921) U.S. Army 1944-1946 Eddie Nep Wilson was born on Dec. 4, 1925, in Brighton, Tennessee, to Jim and Nannie Strain Wilson. One of ten children, six boys, and four girls, he attended Saddler School until the third grade and then

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Three soldiers statue in military uniforms.

VOM – June 2017

Rudolph Boykin Jr US Army, Vietnam 1968-1970 Son Follows in Father’s Footsteps By Sherri Onorati, Special to The Leader World War II veteran Rudolph Boykin, Sr., was honored as the Veteran of the Month in March, and now his namesake, Rudolph Boykin, Jr., has been selected as the June 2017

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Soldiers advancing in a field during combat.

VOM – February 2017

Charles Edward Mason US Army, 1967-1992 Born in Tipton County in 1941, Charles Edward Mason graduated from Frazier High School in 1961. In 1967, after helping his grandfather farm in Tipton County for several years, Charles was drafted into the U.S. Army. He began his service in Ft. Benning, Georgia,

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Three men in historical military uniforms.

Reunion at Brighton was a Magnificent Success

As printed in The Commercial Appeal, July 27, 1894 Veterans Greeted Each Other Assemblage was the largest yet had since the organization of the association – speeches made by men who were in the thickest of the fray The twentieth annual reunion of the Confederate Veterans of West Tennessee was

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OLUNE WAKEFIELD

OLUNE WAKEFIELD Written by grandson David Eaton Olune Wakefield, born on March 17, 1930, to Bob and Gertrude Wakefield in the small town of Drummonds, Tennessee, grew up with dreams of a simple life. Little did he know that destiny had other plans in store for him, ones that would

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

James Alan Wilks

Specialist Four (SP4) James Alan Wilks (10 Jul 1948-27 Oct 1969) was drafted into the United States Army in October 1968, just a few short months after graduating from Frazier High School in Covington. The son of Ruben H. (1912-2005) and Laura N. Wilks (1930-2016) of Covington, SP4 Wilks began

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Gravestone of Holmes and Maggie Thompson.

Holmes N. Thompson (1894-1991)

Holmes Napoleon Thompson was born Feb. 2, 1894 in Mason, Tipton County, Tenn., the son of William Thompson and Martha Adams and the oldest boy of six siblings. Federal census report that he completed four years of high school and could read and write, which at that time was quite

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Gone but not forgotten: Remembering those whose lives were lost in Vietnam

By Sherri Onorati, The Covington Leader,  May 22, 2014 Two veterans mourn fallen soldiers at the Celebration of Service and Sacrifice event’s traveling Vietnam Memorial in October 2013. Nearly a dozen Tipton Countians were killed in action during Vietnam. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, the day we honor

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Mason’s Ahmid Doggett served and died during World War I

By Sherri Onorati,  The Covington Leader, May 23, 2019 During the First World War, Tipton County lost both Black and white sons to the ravages of war, as grief knows no color, and death does not discriminate. Ahmid D. Doggett of Mason was born on Sept. 15, 1886, one of

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Men of Valor: A Tipton County Museum exhibit honors the Wakefield and Wherry brothers

By Sherri Onorati, The Covington Leader, November 11, 2020 The Wakefield/Wherry brothers. A family’s legacy – a torch of honor and patriotism – which started with a father and uncles serving in the United States Navy and Army during World War II, was passed down to sons and now grandchildren and

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