Freightliner Honors Veterans with Ride of Pride Truck

Hard-working employees at a Freightliner Trucks manufacturing plant in North Carolina have customized a Cascadia model truck as a super-sized symbol of the company’s respect for veterans. This is the ninth year plant employees have volunteered their time to help coordinate the truck design, local outreach and a 400-mile ride from the plant to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in what’s called the Ride of Pride project.

This year’s Ride of Pride artwork is designed to show support for active duty personnel, retirees and families who have lost someone in service to the country, as well as for prisoners of war and those still missing in action.

The one-of-a-kind Freightliner Ride of Pride truck was escorted by hundreds of motorcyclists as part of an annual Memorial Day ceremony honoring veterans, POWs and MIAs. Before its Memorial Day weekend trip to join Rolling Thunder, a national motorcyclist group that honors veterans, the truck toured North Carolina, making stops to pay tribute in several communities.

Ed Keeter, formerly a shift manager at Freightliner’s Cleveland truck manufacturing plant and a veteran of the Vietnam War, proposed the project in 2001 when he and other employees were looking for a way to honor veterans as Memorial Day approached.

“It is exciting to be affiliated with a company that is so dedicated to its employees, the community and vets past and present,” Keeter said. Initially the idea was to decorate a Freightliner truck and drive it to the local veterans’ hospital for a visit. “With the support of our plant manager, parent company, vendor partners and the community, the idea just blossomed,” he said. Keeter, who retired from the company in 2009, continues to serve as project lead, assisted by George Drexel, who is a Freightliner employee and also is a Vietnam veteran.

The truck, which is owned by Schneider National Inc., of Green Bay, Wis., will be added to the company’s nationwide fleet of more than 10,000 trucks. “It’s very gratifying to have our organization selected to commandeer the Ride of Pride truck for a third time in its history,” said Schneider National vice president Mike Hinz. “The 2011 truck joins the 2007 and 2008 trucks, which have become rolling tributes to the U.S. military, conveying how both of our organizations feel about those who make the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country’s freedoms. We are indeed honored to have these trucks in our fleet and we pledge to showcase them — both at events and on our nation’s highways — to make our great servicemen and women proud.”