Ron Elliott has spent the last forty years transporting the bodies of Vietnam veterans to their final resting place free of charge in his old pickup truck.

Recently, the truck he had been using for last two decades started to break down, so his entire community stepped in to help him in a way he was not expecting. He had been using the same 2000 Ford F150, the second vehicle he used to transport veterans, for nearly twenty years. The truck, the side of which was emblazoned with the names of Vietnam veterans from Delaware who lost their lives in combat, had racked up around 150,000 miles on it when it started to die.

Ron has done quite a bit of driving ever since he began transporting his fallen brothers over forty years ago. Though he lives in New Castle County, Delaware, he has offered his free services to veterans and their families in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., and Kentucky. He estimates that over the years, he has made around 500 trips to cemeteries up and down the east coast.

“From losing so many brothers over there, I said ‘I’ve got to do something where they won’t be forgotten,’” Ron said. “It’s not hard to me. I’m glad to do it for them.”

When his truck started to break down back in August, Ron feared that he might have to stop doing what he loves. When community firefighters and veterans heard about his truck, they came together to raise money to buy him a lightly-used 2013 Ford truck! The vehicle is about to be outfitted with modifications for carrying the veterans’ caskets and repainted to feature the names of the deceased veterans.

Mitchel Gauge, a retired Air Force veteran who led the fundraising effort, gave the truck to Ron earlier this week.

“It’s all about Ron and what he does for veterans,” Mitchel explained. “Transporting deceased veterans at no cost to the cemeteries [or the veteran’s families] including Arlington Cemetery, and he’s been doing that for years. We just wanted him to keep that mission going.”

Ron was visibly touched when he saw what his community had done for him! Check out his reaction below!