Cars and Places

O’l Chesty

22 is a number that truly hits home for every military member. We often hear that 22 Veterans a day take their lives due to PTSD, loneliness, anxiety, and depression. We want that number to be 0. So, 22 to 0, 220. We bring that mission everywhere we go, bringing awareness and reduce Veteran suicides by giving them purpose, a team, camaraderie, and a family who truly cares. O’l Chesty – our 1996 Crown Victoria – has served us well. Beaten and battered, it continues to forge on, leading our team to victory.

Ladder 3

We received our second car through the generosity of Live P.D. on A&E^® and the Richlands County Sheriffs Department. This car is our dedication to First Responders across the country. We choose 412 as the car’s number to bring awareness to and as a memorial of, the number of First Responders who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Along with the name – Ladder 3 – for the Ladder Company that was all but wiped out when the north tower fell. We dedicate this car – our 2011 Crown Victoria – to all First Responders across this great Nation.

Wild Boar

For our third car, we decided on the number “282” for Senior Chief Petty Officer Scott Dayton and the EOD Platoon to which he was assigned. Senior Chief Dayton was killed on November 24, 2016, while serving during Operation Inherent Resolve. He was 42, and the first American killed in Syria. This magnificent beast, named after the 2d Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain, is our only Chevy. “Wild Boar” – our 1979 Camaro – adds flair to our events and is dedicated to Senior Chief. Your name will live on with us, Scott!

MAKO 30C

For our fourth car, we decided on the number “30” for in honor of Air Force MSgt John A. Chapman, MAKO 30C being his callsign. Posthumously award the Medal of Honor for actions on March 3rd, 2002 will serving as a Combat Controller assigned to SEAL Team 6. Their mission before it want totally haywire was to establish a recon position in the Shah-i-Kot valley of SE Afghanistan. His actions were all captured on Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance video from overhead aircraft and the first video evidence of a MOH awardee. He lifted off for the mission with 210 rounds, and was found with only two unspent rounds left on his body. He along with five others were killed that day on “Roberts Ridge” the Navy SEAL they were tasked with recovering originally after things went off the rails.

Hacksaw

For our fifth car, we decided on the number “307” for in honor of Army Cpl Desmond Doss, 307 being the Army Infantry Regiment he was assigned to when he earned the Medal of Honor upon “Hacksaw Ridge”. Doss refused to kill an enemy soldier or carry a weapon into combat because of his personal beliefs as a Seventh-day Adventist. He consequently became a medic assigned to the 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. While serving with his platoon in 1944 on Guam and the Philippines, he was awarded two Bronze Star Medals with a “V” device, for exceptional valor in aiding wounded soldiers under fire. During the Battle of Okinawa, he saved the lives of 50–100 wounded infantrymen atop the area known by the 96th Division as the Maeda Escarpment or Hacksaw Ridge. Doss was wounded four times in Okinawa, and was evacuated on May 21, 1945, aboard the USS Mercy. Doss suffered a left arm fracture from a sniper’s bullet while being carried back to Allied lines and at one point had seventeen pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body after a failed attempt at kicking a grenade away from him and his men. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Okinawa.

Rosie

For our sixth car, we decided on the number “506” for in honor of Air Force Veteran Karah Behrend, 506 being the date her battle with nerve disease began. This car is our nod to Women Military and First responders so what better name, than “Rosie”. Women during World War II worked in a variety of positions previously closed to them, the aviation industry saw the greatest increase in female workers. More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943, making up 65 percent of the industry’s total workforce (compared to just 1 percent in the pre-war years). The munitions industry also heavily recruited women workers, as illustrated by the U.S. government’s Rosie the Riveter propaganda campaign. Based in small part on a real-life munitions worker, but primarily a fictitious character, the strong, bandanna-clad Rosie became one of the most successful recruitment tools in American history, and the most iconic image of working women in the World War II era.

Wildcat

Wildcat is the 7th car added to the fleet, in our Texas Chapter. This car is named in honor of Corporal Nick Dieruff USMC. Corporal Dieruff was Killed in Action on 8 April 2004 in Anbar Province, Iraq while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Nick was a native of Lexington, KY, home of the University of Kentucky “Wildcats” so we chose this name, and the UK White and Blue color scheme as a way to honor his Kentucky heritage and legacy. An active member of our Texas Chapter, Major Wes Prater USMC (Ret), had the solemn duty of serving as the Casualty Officer for Nick and his family so this is an especially meaningful dedication for all of us a BSM. Nick was serving with the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton, CA. The primary weapon system of the 1st LAR Btn is the LAV-25 Light Armored Vehicle armed with the M242 (25mm) Bushmaster Chain Gun. The “Wildcat” wears number 242 in reference to the weapon system Nick was fighting with when he made the ultimate sacrifice for his Country, and all of us. Thank you Nick for your service and your sacrifice, may you always be with us as we honor you!

“The Pinto”

Our 8th car, a 1974 Ford Pinto Wagon (number 645) is dedicated to the Army Medics and Navy Corpsman who served in the Vietnam War. During this war, 10,000 Navy Hospital Corpsmen served with their Marine brothers in the field. Of these, 645 of them were killed in action and 3,300 were wounded in action. Navy Corpsman trained alongside their Marines and served in combat missions ready to provide first aid and trauma care on the battlefield. A soldier or Marine in Vietnam had a 98% chance of survival if he was evacuated within the first hour of being injured — the best odds in the history of American warfare up to that time. It was the medic or corpsman who held death at bay during that crucial period. Unlike their predecessors in previous wars, medics and corpsmen in Vietnam fought alongside their fellow soldiers and Marines — many carried rifles, sidearms, even hand grenades along with their medical kits. When a soldier or Marine was injured on the battlefield, it was the training, composure, and medical kit of the corpsman or medic that often meant the difference between life and death. There are countless stories of medics and corpsmen risking their own lives to save wounded troops, and at least twenty of them earned the Medal of Honor – our nation’s highest award for courage under fire. (Source: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund – Medics and Corpsmen)