Eight decades after the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp by a local hero’s Army unit and two years after his passing at the age of ninety-six, a bronze memorial statue, sculpted by Scott Wise, honoring Coach Jimmy Gentry and the “Lost Heroes” of Williamson County, was unveiled in downtown Franklin at the end of April. Speakers and participants included Franklin Mayor Ken Moore, Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson, Alderman Brandy Blanton and Leadership Franklin’s team: Stacey Downs, Ondrea Johnson, Carrie Drury and Lance Jordan. Members of the Gentry family were also present for the unveiling along with the Tennessee Army National Guard Honor Guard and community veterans.

 

The “Lost Heroes” Memorial honors the 3,500 Williamson County men who deployed from Franklin’s Five Points to combat in World War II, of which 600 were killed in action. Jimmy Gentry’s unit discovered and liberated the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945. Jimmy made it home from the war, but his brother, David, did not. Jimmy became a legendary teacher and coach, as well as the patriarch of local treasure, Gentry’s Farm.

 

The Leadership Franklin Project became a community-wide effort to honor World War II Soldiers with a memorial statue at Five Points in downtown Franklin. The event coincided with the seventy-ninth anniversary of the liberation of Dachau by Jimmy Gentry’s unit.

 

After the unveiling, Ken Carpenter’s celebrated film, “An American Adventure,” adapted from Jimmy Gentry’s book An American Life was screened at the Franklin Theatre.You can visit the memorial statue at Five Points, at the corner of Main Street and 5^th Avenue South.