Honoring Many Through History – The Great American Road Tour For Veterans By Rachel

 By Scott Montefusco and published in The Dispatcher Magazine

For me, it all started at age 16 with a 1951 Willys Jeep CJ-3A – a Jeep my dad did not want me to buy. My dad was a Korean War veteran who raised me to respect history, our flag, all veterans, and the law. So, the seeds were planted, and I didn’t know it. I grew up on Long Island, NY, in the little town of Setauket. I attended school with children whose family’s names were known patriots of the Revolutionary War. The town of Setauket was occupied by the British, and was known for the Battle of Setauket, but it played an even more important role during the war. This role was made famous by the historical drama series named Turn, a series based on the book Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s Spy Ring. Anyway, it made me a flag-waving, American history, military history, cub scout marching, future Marine Corps captain, and FBI.

Now what does this all have to do with a 1951 Willys Jeep? Well, I did purchase that Jeep and my dad did come around once he realized he had no choice. The Jeep was named “Duke” after John Wayne. It became our first father­and-son vehicle restoration project. Naturally after years of reading history books and playing with my GI Joe, we had to paint Duke olive drab. The number US 51160058 were on the hood, which was my dad’s draftee serial number. It was a hit around town. When we 18-year-olds were required to start registering for the draft, I was first in line, but had to drive Duke, filled with friends, through the crowd of mothers who were protesting outside the post office. I wish I had that Jeep today. Sadly thereafter, I had to sell Duke to pay for a semester of college.

Fast forward several years after serving in the Marine Corps as a Motor Transport Officer and transferring from active duty to reserves, I was a sales rep for Monroe Shock Absorbers in the automotive aftermarket. My territory was all of Maryland and Virginia. This is where I came face to face with a 1950 CJ-3A that had to be rescued. This was in 1993, and yes, I rescued “Willy” and I still have it today. That was thirty years ago, and now Willy is one of my seven rescued Jeeps of various models from 1943 to 1962.
Now, where does the history come in to all of this? Well, determined not to let go of Willy as I had my first Jeep, it came with me through my years in the reserves and my entire FBI career. By the way, when I reported into my first FBI post, I drove into town in my 1979 high school Chevy Blazer with Willy in tow – and yes, I still have the Chevy Blazer, too. Back to history and where honoring many in history starts to come together. While working as an agent at the FBI and appreciating history as an old school Marine first, I worked many historic cases. I was also honored to know and meet many agents that worked real historic cases as well, from the spies of WWII to gangsters and infamous crime figures. I could write a book, but I’m not a writer.
And again, how does it all come together? Hold on here, I’m building a case. In 2003, after years of studying many history-related topics, I learned that one of my favorite stories was to be spotlighted in a documentary film honoring the 100th anniversary of a historic event lost to time. Now Ken Burns, who produced exemplary documentaries such as The Civil War, The Roosevelts, The Dust Bowl, Prohibition, and The War, was releasing a new film entitled Horatio’s Drive. It is the story of the first person (Horatio Nelson Jackson) to make a transcontinental journey across the USA in an automobile.

Horatio completed the trip in a two-cylinder, 18-horsepower, Winton automobile. He completed this trip from San Francisco to New York City with a hired bicycle mechanic as well as his wife’s permis­sion and money, but that is another story. To make it even more amazing, he did this trip with little or no roads, and with less than a week of driving experience. Being a resident of Vermont, he affectionately named his car “The Vermont:’ His only knowledge of the vast terrain he would be driving through came from rudimentary, and often incorrect, maps. At a mere 31 years of age, he completed the trip in just 63 days, from May 23 to July 26, and in doing so, he and the car made history. Horatio donated the car to the Smithsonian upon his death in 1944. When WWI began in 1917, he volunteered at age 44. He deployed to France and returned home highly decorated and went on to retire as a Colonel in the U.S. Army. He was also one of the founding fathers of the American Legion. His father- in-law was a veteran and Medal of Honor recipient.
Now I know you have all read about the first and second woman to ever make this trip – Alice Ramsey and Blanche Scott accomplished this mission in 1909 and 1910. So keep these girls in mind as they used much of the same route as Horatio and we will honor them in 2023, as you will see. Also of note is that Ms. Scott accomplished her 1910 trip in a Willys, and Ms. Scott was also affection­ately called the “Overland Girl’: Now do you see some history coming together? Wait, there is more. Once more, how does history and Willys Jeeps come together here? Let me make the case in my closing state­ments because, I am not a writer but am truly a nuts and bolts, busted knuckles, mud Marine. A guy who likes to live history and not so much write about it.
Back to the documentary film. That night in 2003, after watching Horatio’s Drive with my wife, I turned to her and asked, “Do you know what this means?” She looked at me with a worried look and answered my question with a question. She asked, “What are you going to do”? I replied, “I am going to have to drive a Willys Jeep across the USA by retracing Horatio’s route from San Fran to New York City:

So there it was … the plan to organize and complete this new mission. However, being knee-deep in FBI work following 9/11, and other horrible events that happen on a daily basis, I would only have time to scarcely begin to plan for the day that I would execute my dream of driving cross-country in a Willys Jeep. So after retiring in 2018, I organized a nonprofit named GARTforVETS.org, which stands for The Great American Road Trip for Veterans. With help, our campaign began on May 20, 2022, and we are now on mission. We are on the move, and the highlight of our campaign will come with the transcontinental trip, which will take place from May 23 to July 26, 2023, in-yes-a Willys Jeep. Not my “Willy’: but one I completed a frame-up restoration on and affectionately named “Little Glory she is an original 1952 M38, Korean War era Jeep with 12 volts, Warn Overdrive, and a few other modifications like pointless ignition, and front disc brakes. She even has a NOS 8 Trac stereo, ha ha, but other than that, she is all original. This is a fundraising campaign, so when I reach New York City, I will donate the Jeep, and she will either be auctioned off, or my hope is a corporation will buy her with a donation to T2T.org. We could then give the Jeep away in a sweepstakes where everyone has a chance to win. At that point, I will have one less Jeep to buy tires, batteries, wheel cylinders, gas, and oil for, you know what I’m talking about. Well now you all know my personal reasons for making this journey, and a little more history. I will make this trip to experience history as Horatio Nelson Jackson did (if an Army guy and two girls can do it, I can do it), but for me it is much more. I want to raise awareness for the sacrifices of our military, veterans, first responders, and their families. I want to do this through sharing my experiences as a veteran and law enforcement officer with love for our country, our flag, and all the patriots I will meet along the way. I would not make this trip for myself alone. From the beginning I wanted to do this to raise funds for a 501 c3 charity that does the most for those I represent – our military, veterans and first responders. The charity is Tunnel to Towers T2T.org. They are an amazing organization where by 95% of every dollar raised goes to paying the mortgages off for the families left behind when a service member or first responder dies in the line of duty. At the time of this writing, T2T has paid for over 458 homes and built over 50 Smart homes for our severely wounded heroes.

To learn more about this historic recreation of history honoring our veterans and Army veteran Colonel Horatio Nelson Jackson, you can visit our Gartforvet’s site here:

http://www.gartforvets.org/coleens-draft-of-about-this-site/history-inspired-route/

In the link there are photos and links to the documentary film and book about this amazing time in history. There is also an overview of the route taken. By the time of this printing, we will have a more detailed route laid out with dates and cities where you may join us. Please share our story, and consider a donation on our website to help the campaign, or kindly donate directly to T2T here: https://dogood.t2t.org/give/417629/#!/donation/checkout

To see some of the other vehicles in the fleet and the beginning of Little Glory’s campaign see You Tube Video here: https://youtu.be/Bi21556m7n I

We hope to see you all on the road or in NYC Wednesday July 26, 2023.

– Captain Scott Montefusco, aka, The Captain, aka The Overland man

Kaiser Willys Jeep Blog Story – Captain Scott Montefusco & The Dispatcher

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