Veterans spotlight
What is the Veterans Spotlight?
VFW Bill Lowe Wheatley Post 5109 is more than just a local landmark—it is home to some of the most incredible people and stories in Tennessee. From world travelers to hometown heroes, our Veterans have seen it all, and we think it's time you get to know them. Every month, our Chaplain will be sitting down with a different veteran to share a little bit about their service, their favorite memories, and what they love about our community. Keep an eye on this page to see who we feature each month. You might just recognize a neighbor, a friend, or a local legend.
June 2026 Spotlight
Larry McKnight
A Call to Service in the Vietnam Era
In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam Era, Larry McKnight was a college student focused on his business major. Like many young people of his generation, he was uncertain about his future and faced the looming question of whether he would be sent overseas or remain in the United States.
"I was in college and I came through and they said, hey, they got some openings in the National Guard," Larry recalls. "I really didn't know what the National Guard was... but I put my name on the list, the National Guard list, forgot about it, and went back to school."
Shortly after, a phone call from the administrator at the National Guard Armory changed everything. "He said, 'You know, if you want this position, you better come out here and sign because we're getting ready to send everybody off to basic training. And if you don't sign, you don't get it and you won't be able to join.'"
Larry signed his paperwork and joined a group of eight young men from Marshall County who all went to basic training together. Though they were originally designated as an armored unit, military orders shifted. "When we got our orders to meet and to get on the plane, it was armored. It was supposed to be armored, but then we didn't make the call for the armored. So we ended up at 11 Bravo [Infantry]."
Reflecting on those early, rigorous days of training, Larry laughs, "We really didn't care, you know, but after about the first two or three runs of the two or three days with them there, we were saying, 'When's this gonna be over with?'"
From Enlisted to Officer Candidate School
Though his initial Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) eventually shifted to 88 Mike (Transportation)—meaning he was assigned to drive 5-ton trucks instead of tanks—Larry quickly set his sights on a greater challenge. Along with two of his peers, he decided to apply for Officer Candidate School (OCS).
Transitioning from an enlisted soldier to an officer candidate was a demanding mental and physical evolution. The Tennessee National Guard sent candidates to McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base for a grueling program consisting of an initial two-week phase, a year of weekend drills, and a final two-week phase.
"Oh, the first couple weeks was terrible," Larry remembers. "But then after we got into the sync of what we were doing, we finally found out that we'd better keep our mouths shut or we'll be down doing push-ups. What it was doing, it was tearing us down and rebuilding us mentally, making us feel good about ourselves even though that drill sergeant was looking down our throats every time we turned around."
Humor kept the candidates going through the strict discipline. Larry shares a fond memory of a fellow candidate who went a step too far with his uniform presentation: "We had a gentleman that had the shiniest boots that anybody had, and he had been putting polish on them every time he went in at night. Instead of just brushing them, he put some kind of a liquid polish. When [the instructors] found out about it, they just poured it all up and down his boots there. But it was a challenge at that time."
Later, during their OCS graduation at McGhee Tyson, Larry and his roommates learned a lesson they would never forget. After a long day, they didn’t get to sleep until 2:30 in the morning and asked the front desk for a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call.
"All of a sudden, our phone rings, and it’s one of the TAC [Training Officer] officers. 'Y’all better get your blankety-blank, blank butts over here. Everybody else is cleaning up.'"
Larry and two others threw on their clothes and rushed to the cleanup area, much to the amusement of their peers. "He says, 'Y’all grab a broom. I’ll let you know when you’re dismissed, but I don’t ever want to see you here the next few minutes.' So we’re sitting there pushing the brooms, and so finally I told my good friend, I said, 'Doug, we gotta talk to him. He may be wanting to pull our commissions.' Of course, I'm sure he couldn't do that."
They went to apologize to the officer. "We said, 'Sir, we’re here to apologize. Sorry this happened and whatever we need to do.' He says, 'Well, one thing you need to learn: you are responsible for your own well-being, and don’t ever forget that.' That’s one thing that has stuck with me over the years. As a matter of fact, I think I talked to the folks one Wednesday night about that. Just a good old common sense lesson."
Larry notes that his time in leadership development was highly rewarding. "It was very helpful though—coordinating, working with people, taking care of people, making sure that we're doing the things that are correct and right."
Deployments, Regrets, and Comrades
As a member of the National Guard, Larry spent the majority of his service stationed within Tennessee, serving in Lewisburg, Tullahoma, and Maury County. He remembers that era of the Guard as deeply community-driven. "The thing that has changed for us is it used to be more family-oriented. A lot of Friday nights, you'd bring your own finger food and sit around and talk with your good friend or your soldier."
Because his unit remained stateside during the late 1960s and 1970s, Larry did not deploy to Vietnam—a fact he still views with a quiet sense of humility and regret. "I didn't, and you know, I regret that," he shares. "As a matter of fact, I was talking to a good friend of mine today, Gary Patterson, a Vietnam veteran. I told him, I said, 'Gary, right now I can visualize a picture of you receiving your Purple Heart on one of the ships, and that they had you in the hospital there, a hospital ship.' I guess it just happened that way. When I mention Gary's name, I think of seeing him there. But he's doing okay. He's one of our good Marshall County folks. He gave as much as he could."
Larry’s own time to deploy overseas came decades later. From June to November of 1991, he answered the call to serve abroad during Operation Desert Storm.
When asked about his favorite aspect of military service, Larry emphasizes the camaraderie and the shared responsibility of unit life. "It was the challenge of opportunities of meeting new people, working as a unit, taking care of each other, making sure that everybody did what they were supposed to do."
He chuckles as he recalls a frantic morning during his service involving a missing piece of military paperwork: "I can remember we had a young man who decided to throw away the logbook of a vehicle because he got mad at his superior. We spent the morning the next day trying to find that logbook of that vehicle, and finally, we saw it floating on top of the water and we were able to get it back. Because, you know, I was gonna be the one to have to tell the commander that, 'By the way, sir, we've lost that logbook."
A Legacy of Military Pride
When asked what made him the most proud about his time in uniform, Larry characteristically deflects the praise away from himself, choosing instead to express immense pride in his family.
"The most proud that I was, I have two sons that are veterans," Larry says. "My youngest one, Jared, joined and spent eight years in. He went into military intelligence—which a lot of people say is an oxymoron!" Larry adds with a laugh. "But yeah, Jared spent his time and then he got out. He had some health issues, but is doing okay."
His oldest son, Travis, chose a career path in line with Larry's own military journey, currently serving as an Army Colonel (O6). "He's still in another year and a half, and he'll probably be retiring. So one stayed the duration, the other one got just a touch of it and decided to come home. Both of them Army."
While Larry’s sons carried the torch, his grandchildren are forging different paths. He has two grandsons and a granddaughter. One grandson is currently working at a hospital in Columbia while attending college. Larry notes that they initially hoped he might fully migrate into the medical field, though his youngest grandson, Cutler, who is a high school senior, seems destined for the private sector. "I don't see him joining the military. He's more of a businessman, you know, go out and play golf half a day," Larry smiles, noting the parallel to his own early college days as a business major.
Meanwhile, his granddaughter is graduating and looks forward to entering the pharmaceutical field. "She wants to get into the medical field like pharmaceuticals. She doesn’t want to talk about joining the military," Larry says, noting how proud he is of both of them.
Life Lessons: Seizing Opportunities
Throughout his life and career, Larry has lived by a philosophy of self-improvement and saying "yes" to new challenges. While serving, he actively sought out every training program available.
"I took advantage of any of the training programs, and it made a good extra profile for doing the right things," he says. "An example of that is they were trying to get someone to do the Myers-Briggs personality indicator training, and nobody wanted it. And I said, 'Send me.' As a result of that, I would not even want to guess how many people have sat in on our class, our Myers-Briggs class."
It is a core piece of wisdom he has passed down to his children and grandchildren. "That’s what I’ve told my kids: if an opportunity comes by and you don’t take advantage of it, it’ll never come back again. Now, you’ll have other opportunities, but that opportunity won’t be there again. That’s something that I try to keep in mind. Well, it’s not original—I’ve had people telling me, 'You gotta do this.'"
When asked what advice he would offer to a young person considering a future in the armed forces today, his answer is direct and practical: "Setting goals. I think that’s a criteria. The smart kids that are working real hard and enjoying the military, they have goals."
Continuous Service in the Community
Larry’s commitment to his fellow service members did not end when he took off the uniform. He is a life member of both the VFW and the American Legion, and he stands as one of the original co-founders of Veteran’s Outreach.
His deep involvement in local veteran organizations grew out of a shared community project. "I had the opportunity to work with some folks when we put the memorial rock up at the courthouse. I was able to get involved in that and coordinate some vehicles down from the Guard and set it up. I felt a responsibility."
Today, Larry finds joy in the simple connections these organizations provide, noting that his favorite part of membership is "just thumbing through the information in the magazines. Because there’s always something that’s going to catch your eye there... yeah, that’s good information. And sometimes it opens the door to finding out other things about the organization."
Looking to the future, Larry holds a vision for preserving local veteran history. He shares an idea for a meaningful community project centered around an artifact from the past. "There is a charter with about 120 names on it. And those were the people who, in 1950, were responsible for putting the charter together. That would be a great tool to have a homecoming. Now, the veterans themselves are probably not going to be there, because 1950, and they were World War II veterans. Yeah, that would be... if there’s just one thing that I could do."
Marathons and Fainting Goats: Life Outside the Uniform
Beyond his military and community service, Larry has led an active and eclectic life. For years, he pushed his physical limits on the pavement. "One of the things that I’m kind of proud of is that I used to be a marathon runner," he says. "And I guess it was because not a lot of people wanted to put their bodies under that stress. So it was kind of easy to get a position on there."
When asked to clarify the difference between a marathon and cross-country running, Larry explains with a smile, "The marathon is going to run like 26.2, they’re going to have a good track like the highways. And I think your other one goes cross country where if they’re having to run, they run wherever they can be."
In addition to running, Larry spent years managing a unique livestock operation on his farm: raising fainting goats. At the peak of the business, he managed a herd of over 40 animals.
"I loved playing with them," Larry remembers. The unique nature of the goats often led to highly amusing interactions with visitors. "I’d have people come into the farm and say, 'Hey, are those fainting goats?' and then you’d have some guy from up north that’s never seen them and say, 'How did you train them to do that?' And you’d kind of shake your head and say, 'Get an umbrella and flash it at them.'"
Eventually, life's shifting priorities caught up with the farm. "We just... it got to a point where we had so much stuff going on that we didn’t have time for it, really. We got a granddaughter that lives with us and a son. So I guess we were going in our direction, taking care of them over taking care of the goats. So we sold out the goats."
From the basic training fields of 1968 to the deserts of Saudi Arabia, and back home to the community of Marshall County, Larry McKnight’s life embodies the values of leadership, personal accountability, and a deep-seated pride in family and country. VFW Post 5109 is profoundly honored to highlight his story.
Chaplains footnote
We are thrilled to launch our inaugural Member Spotlight featuring a face many of you will recognize throughout Marshall County, Tennessee. During our recent conversation, we discussed much more than history; we explored invaluable life lessons, lifelong friendships, and the unique experiences that come with military service. Stories like Mr. McKnight’s serve as a powerful reminder of why this Veterans Spotlight initiative is so vital to maintain for years to come. The next time you see Larry out in the community, please join us in thanking him and asking about the many insights he gained throughout his remarkable journey.
Sarah Elder
VFW 5109 Auxiliary Chaplain