KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and State Representative Tim Burchett honored WWII Navy veteran and centenarian, Milton Jones on Saturday.
"! feel undeserving," Jones said. "It seemed like a lot of trouble to go through for one person."
Jones, along with other veterans in the congregation, were honored in a service at Knoxville First Seventh-day Adventist Church. A reception was held later with an American flag cake for the congregation.
Jones was drafted in 1944 and served until the war ended in 1945. He worked in the U.S.S. Indiana and was a firefighter with the Central Command Center, however, his son said he worked more on radio towers and communications.
"I get to do a lot of cool things as mayor, and this is one of them," Jacobs said. "Meeting Veterans, hearing their stories, there aren't that many veterans from World War II left."
It was an interesting full-circle moment because Milton spent time in Oak Ridge helping with the Manhattan Project. The atomic bomb helped end the war in 1945.
"Many times we honor our veterans on special days," Burchett said. "Everything we enjoy in this country, we're allowed to come worship, some man and some woman has laid down their life for these freedoms."