GREENSBORO, NC – U.S. Representative Mark Walker (NC-06) honored Clarence “Bud” Shepherd as the North Carolina Sixth Congressional District Community Hero of the Month.

Each month, Rep. Walker awards a constituent, business, or organization in his district for displaying extraordinary acts of service and for making a difference in the lives around them. Bud Shepherd, a World War II veteran and former P.O.W., was selected as the November 2015 recipient.

Bud Shepherd is the president of Resources Exchange Association (REA), a nonprofit that accepts donations of surplus inventory from corporate America and redistributes that product to thousands of nonprofit organizations and people in need. All proceeds are used to support REAch, a national program that Shepherd created to provide gifts of tool boxes to wounded veterans.

“Bud Shepherd never stopped serving our country when he returned home from the battlefields of Europe seventy years ago,” Walker said. “It is absolutely clear that Bud puts service above self through his work with the Resources Exchange Association and the REAch the Wounded Warrior Program. Bud has dedicated his life to honoring our brave men and women, and I am beyond thrilled to recognize him as our November 2015 Community Hero of the Month,” Walker added.

Shepherd enlisted in the U.S. Army on his 18th birthday in 1943. During World War II, Shepherd was an Air Corpsman, Sergeant, and tail gunner in the 751st Squadron. After German fire brought down his plane, Shepherd was captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in Stalag Luft 1 in Barth on November 30, 1944. He was freed on May 1, 1945.

Shepherd turns 90 years old this month and resides in Graham, N.C.