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Volunteers in red t-shirts worked all Friday in Pulaski County, to help a wounded veteran.
On a perfectly good morning, more than a hundred people, many of them strangers, gathered to raise a home from the ground.
Brought together by "Homes for Our Troops", a national organization that builds homes for severely wounded veterans. Tim McHale says his group is about doing the right thing. "First of all this is not charity. This is a moral obligation that we feel to our veterans", said McHale.
Two prosthetic legs walked slowly in the mud. They belonged to husband and father, Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Austin, who makes a bold statement, fast, "I don't want anybodys pity."
Nearly 4 years ago, while serving in Afghanistan, both legs were destroyed when the truck Austin was driving, ran over an IED. An improvised explosive device.
As I spoke with Austin, volunteers were busy moving two by fours and four by fours. I asked how he responds when people say 'they're sorry.' "When I meet people sometimes who say 'I'm sorry' and I tell them don't be sorry. I got hurt doing the job that I love, with men that I love like brothers, for a country that I love dearly."
Austin's new home will sit on 5 acres. The plan is to have it completed by mid-February. The truth is most of the volunteers don't know Marine Staff Sgt Jeremy Austin from Adam.
The sound of hammers, electric saws, and nail guns didn't stop a small
brigade that carried a truss like a big bag lunch. Hard work that didn't go unnoticed by the man who says sometimes forgets he lost two legs.
Read Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Austin's next 15 words.
"I'm still more than willing to put my life on the line for this country"
Enough said. In Pulaski County, Orlando Salinas WDBJ7.