Servicemembers reflect on importance of Veterans Day: 'It's about respect'

NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) -- On this Veterans Day, ABC11 is speaking with servicemembers about the sacrifices made by US Veterans and the holiday's lasting importance here.

John Odom moved to Raleigh after returning home from Vietnam, where he earned a Purple Heart after being wounded during the Tet Offensive. For Odom, and countless American families, Veterans Day is personal.

"Most people don't know what war is, or have never been in it, or have no clue how it might affect you," Odom.

Odom was wounded on February 14th, 1968 when his company of 27 soldiers took fire from 350 Vietcong fighters, leaving several of his countrymen dead.

"We just hunkered down and just shot as much as we could shoot and survived," Odom recalled on Monday. "Not all of us survived but a lot of us survived."

After leaving the service, he would go on to run Raleigh's Veterans Day Parade for nearly three decades, an event that was canceled this year after motorized vehicles were not permitted. Odom hopes that it will return in years to come, and will serve as a reminder for younger Americans about what the day means.

"People just need to realize that it's not free, it came with sacrifice," he said.

In Durham, Iraqi War veteran Diana Graham is steeped in the tradition of Veterans Day, too.

"What I like to have people realize is a veteran, a servicemember, whether you're retired, you're active duty, you're discharged. This is a person, who at some point in their life, wrote a blank check to the United States of America, and that amount was up to and including his or her life," Graham said.

Graham deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005 and 2006, and served in the military from 2000 to 2008, before settling in Durham and attending NCCU. Graham says Veterans Day is about respect -- and she wants it to inspire more people to invest in the lives of the Veterans around them.

"There's value of having worn that uniform, that creates this camaraderie. No matter where you go, as long as they know you wore that uniform, there's a different level of respect," Graham said.