Retired Army Sgt. 1stClass Angel Sanabria and former soldier Jamal Scott want to raise awareness about the service and sacrifice of America’s military while also informing today’s young service men and women about the support they have available from veterans’ service organizations when they leave they service.
Sanabria, a Vietnam War veteran and veteran of Desert Storm, is using his Ford F-150 as a moving advertisement with artwork and slogans designed by Scott, a graphic artist and illustrator. Scott, who was medically retired in 1991, said he has a few more logos of service organizations to add to each side of the truck, but their collaborative effort to raise awareness for veterans will continue with events in which the pickup will serve as a static or moving display.
Sanabria said he plans to mount seats in the back of his pick-up from an old 2 ½-ton truck called a “deuce and half.” He also wants to mount a handle on top of the truck’s cab. The seats would allow aged veterans to ride in the back of the pickup during veterans’ parades, and the handle would give a VIP something to hold onto, he said. He also plans to pull a trailer behind his pickup that will contain the POW/MIA flag and the flags of service organizations.
“My plan for this truck is to promote the services and support soldiers getting out the Army have with the (Disabled American Veterans, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars) and other service organizations,” Sanabria said. “It’s so the soldiers and their families know they have some place to go to for help. That’s the reason I came up with the idea.”
He said he plans to use his pickup as a “moving message” during next month’s Veterans Day Parade and December’s Christmas Parade. He also wants to use it as a static display at the Veterans Salute on Nov. 1 and other veterans’ events, including Pearl Harbor Day and Memorial Day. Sanabrie said he has lived in this area 21 years and is a member of nearly all the local veterans’ service organizations.
Scott said he worked as a soldier-artist for Eur-Army Magazine and the Stars and Stripes Newspaper. He was the post illustrator here at Fort Stewart in 1986 before leaving for his assignment in Germany.
“I’m taking part in this in order to commemorate the military,” Scott said. “When I met Mr. Angel and saw he had this big white truck. We both wanted to do something as veterans to help veterans, so we collaborated to do this. If they’d let me, I’d like to paint a veterans’ mural inside the new VA clinic here.
“This project started out with a mural on the hood then murals on the sides. We just kept adding things. We wanted to let veterans of all eras know their service is not forgotten. I wrote down some things that some may think sound cliché, like ‘Home of the free because of the brave,’ ‘Freedom’s not free but worth fighting for,’ and ‘Some gave some; some gave all.’ This is a truck of remembrance.”
Scott said he isn’t charging Sanabria for the artwork and effort he’s put into his pickup. He said it’s something they both wanted to do. He said nearly all the work on the truck has been done at the Fort Stewart Craft Shop, including a spray-on bed liner. When Scott puts the finishing touches on the artwork, Sanabrie said he’ll install the seats.
They expect to have the pickup ready for its introduction to the public by the end of the month.