On this Memorial Day in the US, I happened across the story of Jared Monti, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2009 for his heroism in trying to rescue a wounded fellow soldier in Afghanistan.
Jared’s father told in a radio interview about driving his son’s pickup truck as a way of remembering him, and that turned out to be the inspiration for a hit country song:
A good soldier and a good man:
Jared suffered injuries from multiple parachute jumps in Kosovo, but declined a medical discharge and re-enlisted when he learned that his unit was being deployed to Afghanistan.
While stationed at Fort Bragg, Monti gave away a $500 kitchen table to a fellow soldier whose children were eating dinner on the floor.
And during his time in Bosnia, he drove kids to school in his Humvee and also gave away all of the new clothes his mother sent him.
As we say in Hebrew: Zichrono livracha. (May his memory be a blessing.)
