Our son Alex was a member of the US Army Special Forces, a Green Beret. On November 17, 2013, Alex lost his life to an IED in the Shah Wali Kot region in Afghanistan. Alex was a car as am I. In 2015 we started the SSG Alex Viola Foundation to raise money for the Green Beret Foundation and the Special Operations warrior Foundation. Most of the fundraising comes for the annual SSG Alex Viola Memorial Car Show. The SOWF puts fallen Special Ops children through college and the Green Beret Foundation assist the families of fallen and wounded members of the Special Forces community with suicide prevention and all the unforeseen medical expenses, travel to-and-from hospitals, and much more.
The car show draws 400 registered vehicles and over 2500 spectators. Over the years, it has evolved into a car and air show. The air show consists of groups of restored military aircraft as well as active F-16’s after the National Anthem. Alex’s Green Beret friends and those who served with him come out each year to serve as our event judges. The local rotary club sets up 1776 full size American flags next to the show which is an amazing site. We raised over $70,000 at the show and to date, we have raised and donated over $365,000.
In addition to the car show, my wife Peggy and I donated an old 1953 Chevy pickup to the SSG Alex Viola Foundation. Viola. I had purchased the truck a few years back and decided to do a build and then donate the proceeds. Project Green Beret was born. The plan was to build this truck with the support of many aftermarket automotive manufacturers and auction the finished truck at Barrett-Jackson. All proceeds from the sale of Project Green Beret will be donated to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and the Green Beret Foundation.
Turn Key Speed shop (now Wiley Speed Shop) did a great deal of work and donated a fresh 5.3 LS motor. In 2020, the project came to a halt due to COVID -19 and Mike Reed and Buddy Ward volunteered to keep the project going. The old 53 body required much too much work and so we changed gears and purchased a 1954 GMC truck which was much further along with the bodywork. Mike and Buddy began performing their magic and started cutting and welding making every gap perfect. The truck was recently moved over to Avondale Collision and Repair where it will be ultimately painted. Avondale is owned by the Mecedes-Benz of Grapevine and the team is specialized on Porsche and Mecedes vehicles. The team members at Avondale are donating their personal time to work on the truck. Their workmanship is second to none as is the facility. Project Green Beret couldn’t be in a better place and is in the hands of skilled professionals.
Upon completion, we plan to campaign the truck at various national and regional shows to get some exposure. Afterwards, we will schedule the truck to be auctioned at either Mecum or Barrett-Jackson auction houses.
Some of the Project Green Beret pickup truck sponsors include Total Cost Involved Engineering, Painless Performance Products, Vintage Air, Diamond Back Radials, Champion Cooling Systems, Tanks, Inc., Ichan Automotive, Avondale Collision and Repair and many others.