Amick's history efforts deemed Hope-worthy

Jeremy Amick received the Cole County Historical Society's 2016 Hope Award from Jim Weber, CCHS president.
Jeremy Amick received the Cole County Historical Society's 2016 Hope Award from Jim Weber, CCHS president.

The Cole County Historical Society honored Jeremy Amick for bringing military history to life through his hundreds of newspaper articles spotlighting military veterans.

Amick is a volunteer public affairs officer with Silver Star Families of America, a nonprofit group that honors sacrifices through wounds and illness soldiers incurred during combat by honoring them with the Silver Star Banner.

Jim Weber, president of the Cole County Historical Society, said Amick has four books, plus more than 500 articles published on websites and in newspapers, including the News Tribune.

"I thank you for the award," Amick said. "It was certainly unexpected, and I humbly receive it."

He said when he started writing his veteran stories six or seven years ago, "it wasn't my intent to garner any recognition, but to garner recognition for my fellow veterans."

Amick said there's been an alarming trend in which our society has become disconnected from its history.

"These stories, and what you all do is help reconnect us to that past and make sure we don't forget those lessons and those failures because it helps a stronger future," he said.

He said he'll continue to write the articles as long as he can, and he plugged his most recent weekly column highlighting a World War I veteran.

Amick served 11 years in the Missouri National Guard, receiving a medical discharge in 2004 due to a service injury. He is the assistant director of the Missouri office of Veterans Employment and Training Service under the U.S. Department of Labor.

He also volunteers with Operation Bugle Boy and is a board member of Missouri Society of Military History.

The Catherine and Alex Hope Award has been given annually since 1973 to a resident of Cole County who has made significant contributions during the year in the dissemination, preservation, recording and distilling of interest in the history of Missouri in general, and in Cole County in particular. Those contributions can be through research, writing, recording, photography, genealogy or any other means of personal interest.