Purple Heart veteran to receive ‘rolling tribute’ truck

For Jack Gill, a peek at what he will be driving come November has been like a dream.
The Sioux Falls veteran and Purple Heart recipient, who grew up south of Flandreau, is the only one in the nation who will be driving a new tricked out F150 truck with a full patriotic wrap. He will take possession on Veteran’s Day.
The truck was made available after Gill, 69, was chosen in a contest for the Wounded Warriors Family Support organization. He got to sit in the truck last week when it was on the High Five tour and stopped at Sioux Falls Ford.
“It’s going to be like going from a Model T to the Starship Enterprise. It’s got all the bells and whistles. It’s going to be super truck,” Gill said. The 2018 vehicle with customized lift and hand controls pushes $100,000 in price, he estimates.
He likely will keep his current truck, too, a 1997 F150 with 320,000 miles, so he can have the older truck in Arizona during the winter.
Gill, who attended both Flandreau and Egan high schools before skipping graduating and volunteering to serve in Vietnam, lost both of his legs in a land mine six weeks after getting to the war zone. It was July 18, 1969, and he was 19, the oldest of five with four younger sisters.

“Both of my legs were blown off. I just about lost the left arm,” he said. He is missing his triceps. “It was a close call.”
The truck has transfer seats that will help him go from his wheelchair to the driver’s or passenger seats, a big convenience, he said.
The truck also has a 360-degree view inside of the outside of the vehicle, said Ed Mardiat, who explained all of the truck’s technology to Gill.
“It’s kind of a rolling tribute,” he said.
Gill has spent the last 50 years working a few years for the Veteran’s Affairs office for processing prothesis. He has two that allow him limited mobility. He also has volunteered with some veterans’ organizations and loves to hunt. He plans to be in Flandreau this month for a couple of hunts.
“I do a lot of volunteer work,” he said.
He also earned a degree from Augustana University and was a jeweler for a while. He and his nephew, Chris Gill, own a coffee franchise in Mesa, Ariz.
As part of the tour, people along the way have signed words of inspiration and thanks for Gill to read. “Thank you for your service,” several say.
“I couldn’t believe it. That was mind blowing. That was touching, very touching,” he said.
Gill was presented with a special coin and pin while at Sioux Falls Ford from the volunteers who are taking the vehicle on tour.
“We’re finally giving back to our Vietnam Veterans,” said Jim Doriron, a volunteer driver with Wounded Warriors.