John W. Mentor

1840 – 1925
CIVIL WAR
Unit: 5th Michigan Infantry Company D and F
Enlisted: 1861 as a private
Discharged: 1865 a full Sargeant
Medal of Honor recipient awarded May 10, 1865
Citation: Capture the flag

The event occurred at Deatonsville/Sailor’s Creek. Virginia on April 6, 1865.

This was one of the last battles of the war. Union forces overwhelmed the Confederate lines, captured thousands of soldiers and multiple battle flags.

The battle was followed by Lee’s surrender at Appomattox three days later.

To capture a flag was an extreme act of valor. It was one of the most dangerous feats to secure the enemy’s flag under fire.

Mentor married Alice Lee in 1865 and had two daughters. They lived in Franklin after the war and then moved to Ovid, Michigan. Mentor was a farmer and a blacksmith.

His wife, Alice, was the daughter of Harvey Lee, a war veteran of 1812.

The Lee and Mentor plot is in the Franklin cemetery.

Tara Roberts

AFGHANISTAN

Major Tara L. Middlebrooks (Roberts) commissioned as an Engineer Officer from the United States Military Academy at West Point (USMA) and is now serving as an Army Strategist.

Her previous assignments include Strategist in the Army Deputy Chief of Staff G1 at the Pentagon (Washington D.C.), Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership (USMA) and Company Commander in the 4 th Infantry Division (Fort Carson, Colorado).

During her first assignment, she was deployed as a Platoon Leader and Company Executive Officer with the 555 th Engineer Brigade (Ft. Lewis, Washington) to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

MAJ Middlebrooks is currently completing her PhD in Technology with emphasis on Artificial Intelligence at Purdue University and has previously completed Masters Degrees at Columbia University and University of Missouri, Science and Technology. MAJ Middlebrooks is married to MAJ Arthur Middlebrooks, Army Operations Research and Systems Analyst, of West Bloomfield, Michigan.