Portraits of Patriots

By Sherman Avner "Shug" Bledsoe, Jr.

ISBN-13 978-0-9714958-4-5
ISBN-10 0-9714958-4-X

(Paperback, 5½ x 8½" format, 275 pages)

$14.50

Portraits of Patriots

Growing up in the early 1940s gave Sherman Avner "Shug" Bledsoe, Jr. some unique perspectives. It was a time when America was at war with the Axis Powers, and Shug watched as his relatives and neighbors marched off to war. Some paid the ultimate price for their country. Later, still not much older than a boy, Shug fought for his country in Korea.

Thinking back on this heritage, Shug observed that the people living around him in rural Atoka County in southeast Oklahoma were especially patriotic when it came to serving in the armed forces. His observations were true, because the 2000 U.S. Census revealed a ratio of veterans in Atoka County that is 23% higher than the national average.

From 1998 to 2000 Shug wrote about these veterans in his column "Portraits of Patriots" that appeared in the Atoka County Times. The column was very well read and especially appreciated by veterans, many from out of the region and out of the state. This book is a collection of those columns.

All proceeds from the sale of this book will go toward building the Atoka County Veterans Memorial.