By MELANIE POOLE / Special to the Reporter

The Veteran of the Week is sponsored by the National Veterans Shrine and Register of Honor at the American Village — honoring America’s veterans and telling the stories of their service and sacrifice for the cause of liberty.

“The American Village is pleased to join the Shelby County Reporter in recognizing Coast Guard SNGM Terry Franklin Graham as Veteran of the Week,” American Village founder and CEO Tom Walker said. “He is representative of the hundreds of thousands of Alabamians who have risked it all for the sake of our country and its freedom. To all veterans we owe a debt we can never fully repay.”

Visit the website, Veteransregisterofhonor.com, today and add your loved ones to the Register of Honor. Help us honor, recognize, respect and remember our country’s veterans.

Here are highlights about this week’s Veteran of the Week:

Terry F. Graham was born to Lester and Guinell Graham, May 6, 1946, in Mt. Olive, Alabama. He was one of six siblings. A brother served in the U.S. Air Force and another in the U.S. Army. Terry entered the Coast Guard in 1966 at Groton, Connecticut. April 6, 1970, he received an Honorable Discharge as a SNGM from St. Petersburg, Florida. He then married Kathryn Ann Hope. They were parents of Terry F. Graham, Jr., and grandparents to Abby Grace Graham. Terry supported his family for 30 years working at L&N and CSX Railroads before retiring in 2007. He was a member of Unity Baptist Church. He died on Jan. 20, 2014, and is interred at Oakwood Memorial Gardens in Gardendale, Alabama.

In His Own Words:

“I was proud and honored to serve my country so that every American can live in a free country. My plan was to make the Coast Guard my career, but my father became very sick and I had to leave to help take care of him.”

Melanie Poole is Communications Officer for the American Village and can be reached at MPoole@americanvillage.org.