Special groundbreaking for a hometown hero

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Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Special groundbreaking for a hometown hero
The group Operation Coming Home is once again building a home for a wounded warriors.

FUQUAY-VARINA (WTVD) -- The group Operation Coming Home is once again building a home for one of our wounded warriors.

The house will be built in Fuquay-Varina, on Walker Ranch Drive, for Sergeant Jimmion Clayton.

In 2012 while he was on patrol in Afghanistan, a suicide bombing injured him and killed three other soldiers.

It changed me completely," Sgt. Clayton said. "I look at life different, don't take anything for granted. All three of those people that passed away that day, I was in their position at one point and they wanted to switch out. And today I still think about it, how and why it worked out the way it worked out

Three years after the attack, he said he's thinking about his buddies while listening to details about his hero home - provided by the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County.

The homes are built for and donated to disabled combat veterans, back from service in the Middle East.

"I went over there at 21 years old, still trying to figure out what type of man I wanted to be, how to become a man," Sgt. Clayton said. "And that's been one of the biggest things that's helped me become the man I am today."

"The house is a blessing," he added. "But the main thing I'm looking forward to is putting one foot in front of the other and helping veterans like myself. Because there are a lot of veterans out here who don't have the resources, don't know the resources, or they just need to be pulled back in."