West TN town honors local veterans with personalized banners

WEAKLEY COUNTY, Tenn. — One West Tennessee town is honoring veterans in a special way.

Sixty-six banners with pictures of veterans are hanging in downtown Greenfield.

“My husband, who passed away in 2012, is on one,” said Mitizi Elam, whose husband served for a total of 34 years. “It’s right beside his father’s who was in World War II, so we’re really proud of them.”

Each banner has a different picture of a man or woman who served in the armed forces. Randy Huffstetler says this is a perfect example of how small town America honors people.

“That’s why we have the freedoms we have today, and we should all be so thankful to them,” Huffstetler said.

Jan Johnson is the Secretary of the Greenfield Advancement Association. They are the nonprofit organization that organized the banner project.

“I get a lot of junk mail, and we had ordered banners in the past,” Johnson said. “There were banners not really honoring veterans but for the holidays. I thought we could tie this together.”

They limited who could be on the banners to people who lived or grew up in Greenfield.

The banners will be up until Thanksgiving.