With a deep spirit of gratitude and respect, Northwest Georgia Bank recognizes and honors employees and directors, their family members and all veterans who served or are serving in the U.S. military, here and abroad, wartime or peacetime.

Leonard Fant served 13 years in the 50s-60s in the Tennessee Army National Guard, retir-ing as first sergeant. He served over a medical detachment as part of the 1-181st Field Artil-lery Battalion in Chattanooga. Fant is a longtime community philanthropist and Northwest Georgia Bank director and recently retired as Blood Assurance president & CEO. He lives in Fort Oglethorpe with his wife, Bobbie.

Willis Dietz served as a warrant officer and medical officer in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1944-1946. In February 2008, Northwest tapped him as its first ever director emeritus after 35 years service as a director on the 105-year-old community bank’s board. He and his wife Martha live in Ringgold.

Bill Andrews served in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant at Ft. Jackson, S.C. from 1953-55. He is a Northwest Georgia Bank director and lives in Ringgold with his wife, Barbara.

Randall Peters served in the Tennessee Army National Guard from 1967-73, earning the rank of specialist. He is a Northwest Georgia Bank director and president of Weeks & Peters Insurance Agency, Inc. in Ringgold. He lives in Ringgold with his wife, Nancy.

Hugh Peterson Jr. served in the U.S. Army from 1960-63 in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, achieving the rank of captain. He is a Northwest Georgia Bank director and works as president and chief executive officer of VNS Corp. He lives in Atlanta with his wife, Mary Jane Fincher Peterson, also a Northwest Georgia Bank director.

Jeff Kovach (standing, far left) served 22 years active duty in the U.S. Army, achieving the rank of major. With stints at the Pentagon and Fort Bragg, N.C., he served as a finance offi-cer with the 107th Finance Support Unit in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm, 1990-91. He is senior vice president and chief financial officer at Northwest Georgia Bank and works at the main office in Ringgold. He lives in Ringgold with his wife, Charlotte.

Sandy Hall received his draft card from the U.S. Army in 1966, just a few days after graduating from West Georgia College. The Ringgold native trained at Fort Campbell and Fort Knox before heading to Vietnam for nine months serving with the 90th Replacement Battalion at Bien Hoa, 18 miles north of Saigon. Army Specialist Hall saw intermittent com-bat during the Tet Offensive in February 1968 and returned home in July of the same year. A longtime member of the Catoosa County Board of Education, he works at Northwest Georgia Bank as vice president of insurance/investments at the main office in Ringgold. He lives in Ringgold with his wife, Brenda.

Hayley Hess served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1982-85. Stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., she achieved the rank of lance corporal. She is a teller at Northwest Georgia Bank’s Hamilton Place office and lives in Ringgold.

Airman First Class Daniel Wheaton is serving active duty in the U.S. Air Force and is sta-tioned in Qatar in the Persian Gulf. He works in satellite communications and expects future deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq. He is a 2002 graduate of Ringgold High School and the son of bank employee Hayley Hess.

Major Ray Myers has served 20 years as a full-time active duty officer with the Tennessee Army National Guard 1-181st Field Artillery Battalion in Chattanooga, including a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan and a year in Iraq. He is the husband of Melissa Myers, a finan-cial services representative at the bank’s Ooltewah-Collegedale branch. They live in Chickamauga. In the photo, Ray and Melissa hug at 5 a.m. at Fort Stewart, Ga. on July 12, 2006. He had just returned from Afghanistan.

Bill Jones served in the U.S. Army from 1968-70, with a year’s duty as sergeant and combat photographer with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) in the Republic of South Vietnam, where he earned the Bronze Star. In 1972, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve with the 2369th Signal Detachment in Chattanooga, serving in Operation Desert Storm in 1990. He retired a sergeant major in 1995. Jones recently retired from Northwest as a vice president-commercial lender at the Main Office in Ringgold. He lives in East Ridge with his wife, Glenda.

Shaun Martin served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1999-2003 with the 4th MAW Military Police, earning the rank of corporal. He trained at Parris Island, S.C., Camp Lejeune, N.C. and at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. before stationing at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga. He works for Northwest Georgia Bank as a financial services representative at the Ham-ilton Place branch. He lives in Tunnel Hill.

Jim Spurgeon served four years in the U.S. Air Force in the late 60s. Stationed at Bitburg Air Force Base in Germany, he guarded nuclear missiles and weaponry and handled attack guard dogs. After military service, he served 30 years in law enforcement with the Georgia State Patrol. He lives in LaFayette with his wife, Carolyn, a Northwest Georgia Bank assis-tant vice president at the main office in Ringgold. They live in LaFayette.