February 7, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Paul Monti was able to keep - and drive - a meaningful memorial of his son Jared, who was killed in action defending his comrades. Here's Paul—and our own Lee Habeeb—with the story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Up next a
story about his song Lee Brice's I Drive your Truck Today.
Paul Monty never forgot the day he got the news
military parents dread his thirty year old son US Army
(00:33):
Sergeant first Class Jared Monty, had been killed while serving
with the tenth Mountain Division in Afghanistan. Paul, a recently
retired teacher from Raynham, Massachusetts, instantly joined the ranks of
Gold Star parents in two thousand and six. Paul didn't
know what to do or say when he got the news,
(00:53):
let alone how to process his grief. A few months later,
on his first Veterans Day visit to his son's graves
site at the seven hundred and eighty acre Massachusetts National Cemetery,
he noticed something odd. There wasn't a flag on display
at any of the seventy eight thousand graves in the cemetery,
not one. The flags weren't there, Paul learned because ground
(01:17):
crews complained they made it harder for them to cut
the cemetery grass. Not pleased with that explanation, Paul did
what any gold Star dad or a mom would do.
He fought the Department of Veterans' Affairs until the rule
was changed. But this gold Star Dad's mission was only
partially complete. He then launched Operation Flags for Vets, an
(01:38):
organization dedicated to placing flags on every grave at the
Massachusetts National Cemetery every Memorial and Veterans Day, all to
preserve the memory of the sacrifices that so many in
that cemetery made for their country, including his son. During
the first Flags for Veterans Ceremony Memorial Day in twenty eleven,
(02:02):
Paul's vision became a reality as an army of volunteers
spread out across the massive military cemetery and adorned sixty
two thousand graves with flags. Here's what Paul told the
assembled crowd. In the crowd around you, there are many
gold Star families. Please, as you place a flag, say
a small prayer for these veterans. Maybe if you could
(02:25):
write down their names, go home and look them up
on the Internet. You'll be surprised at what you'll find.
Paul was later interviewed that day by NPR, fighting back
tears as he told a story about a new kitchen
set Jared and his Army pals purchased for their home,
only to give it away. One day, his buddies came
(02:46):
home and the kitchen set was missing. They asked him
where it was, and Jared said, well, I was over
at one of my soldier's houses and his kids were
eating on the floor. So I figured they needed the
kitchen set more than we did. And so this seven
hundred dollars kitchen set, well, it just disappeared. That's what
Jared did. His father described his son as a man
(03:07):
who didn't crave attention. All his medals weren't in a
sock drawer. No one ever saw him. He didn't want
to stand out. In two thousand and nine, his son
posthumously received the highest commendation any American soldier can be awarded,
the Congressional Medal of Honor. But the most powerful part
of Paul's story revolved around Jared's truck, why he didn't
(03:30):
sell it and why he still drove it. What can
I tell you? It's him, It's got his DNA all
over it. I love driving it because it reminds me
of him. Though I don't need the truck to remind
me of him. I think about him every hour of
every day. Paul shared details of his sons dodged four
(03:51):
by four RAM fifteen hundred truck adorned with decals including
the tenth Mountain Division, the eighty second Airborne Division, an
American flag, and a Go Army decal. Then came the
most emotional part of the interview. You know, I think
it's important for people to understand what gold Star parents
go through. Your child is your future, and when you
(04:14):
lose your child, you've lost your future. And I think
one of the reasons so many gold Star parents drive
their children's trucks is because they have to hold on.
They just have to hold on. I'll never forget that
interview because I was listening to it on a sunny
Memorial Day in a Walmart parking lot in my own hometown,
(04:35):
unable to get out of my suv because I was
crying so hard, crying like I used to cry when
I was a child, crying as if I'd just lost
my child. I wasn't the only one sitting alone in
my car crying that Memorial Day. Back in twenty eleven,
Nashville songwriter Connie Harrington was in her car listening to
(04:56):
the same story. Moved to tears. She did what right,
She pulled over and scribbled down details of the story
so she wouldn't forget them when she got back home.
One part of Paul's story kept crying out to her,
the story of that truck. With the help of two
songwriter friends, Harrington turned that part of the Monte story
(05:18):
and all of that emotion into a song, which country
singer Lee Brice recorded. I Drive Your Truck, made its
way quickly to number one on Billboard's Country charts. The
video has fifty million views in counting. But as remarkable
as this story was, it didn't end there. Not long
after Bryce's song became a hit, Paul was contacted by
(05:40):
a woman he knew who had lost her son in
the same battle that took his son's life. She sent
me a message that she'd heard the song and that
I had to listen to it. She knew I drove
jaredge truck and she drove her son's truck. He confessed
he was unable to make it through the whole song.
(06:01):
I got into it just a few bars, and I
kind of well, I just kind of welled up. What
Paul didn't know was that it was his story that
inspired the song. The writers eventually tracked him down to
celebrate the song's success. It won the Country Music Association's
Award for Song of the Year in twenty thirteen. The
(06:23):
song did what country music does best, tell said beautiful stories.
Here's the opening verse and chorus.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Ety nine cents in the ash tree, half empty bottle
of gay rolling in the floor, boom that dirty braves
cap on, a dash dalk tax hanging from the rear view,
old skull can and cabel boots.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And a gold army shirt.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Folding in the bad.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
This thing burns gas like crazy, but that's all right.
People got their ways cool, Benfoorn, I got mine?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
How drive your track? I roll everywhere now down and
not burning every by crown in this town.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
I find the field, tear it up to all the paines,
climb out dusty Sometimes I drive.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
You'll true.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
What we don't learn from the song. With the circumstances
of his son's death. In June of two thousand and six,
Carrot's patrol came under fire and one soldier who served
under him was wounded and help. Despite a wicked firefight,
Jared tried three times to help his fallen comrade. Who
was that last attempt that got him killed? No one
(08:10):
who knew. Jared was surprised. Here's his father. It's what
he did. Jared didn't give up on people, and always
he tried to do the right thing. What led Jared
to become the man he was One need not look
far to figure it out. His father, it turns out,
had the same passion for serving others, for doing the
(08:32):
right thing, and for doing hard things. Paul Monty recently
died at the age of seventy six from cancer in Raynham.
We learned from local media reports that he taught earth
sciences at Stouton High School for thirty five years and
rarely talked about himself. He was too busy taking care
of the people around him. Paul's daughter Nicole told reporters
(08:55):
her dad, one of nine kids growing up, worked hard
throughout his life. He delivered newspapers and worked all kinds
of odd jobs growing up, and worked two and sometimes
three jobs to support his family. He didn't complain about
it or take credit for it. It was simply who
he was. On the Massachusetts Fallen Heroes website and Facebook page,
(09:18):
his friends and colleagues wrote these words about him. Paul
relentlessly pursued a life of helping others, being a role
model and leading by example. He's left us to join
his son Jared in heaven. It's a sublime final image
of two lives beautifully lived and God's just reward for
doing so. It's why the story of Paul and Jared
(09:41):
Monty is one for the ages. It's proof that fathers matter,
and the lives of their sons and daughters, and the
life of their communities too, and proof that, as the
saying goes, it's better to live a sermon than to
give one. The story of I Drive your truck, the
story of Paul and Jared Monty, and the gold star
(10:03):
mothers and fathers who were left behind. Here on our
American stories
And we continue with our American stories. Up next a
story about his song Lee Brice's I Drive your Truck Today.
Paul Monty never forgot the day he got the news
military parents dread his thirty year old son US Army
(00:33):
Sergeant first Class Jared Monty, had been killed while serving
with the tenth Mountain Division in Afghanistan. Paul, a recently
retired teacher from Raynham, Massachusetts, instantly joined the ranks of
Gold Star parents in two thousand and six. Paul didn't
know what to do or say when he got the news,
(00:53):
let alone how to process his grief. A few months later,
on his first Veterans Day visit to his son's graves
site at the seven hundred and eighty acre Massachusetts National Cemetery,
he noticed something odd. There wasn't a flag on display
at any of the seventy eight thousand graves in the cemetery,
not one. The flags weren't there, Paul learned because ground
(01:17):
crews complained they made it harder for them to cut
the cemetery grass. Not pleased with that explanation, Paul did
what any gold Star dad or a mom would do.
He fought the Department of Veterans' Affairs until the rule
was changed. But this gold Star Dad's mission was only
partially complete. He then launched Operation Flags for Vets, an
(01:38):
organization dedicated to placing flags on every grave at the
Massachusetts National Cemetery every Memorial and Veterans Day, all to
preserve the memory of the sacrifices that so many in
that cemetery made for their country, including his son. During
the first Flags for Veterans Ceremony Memorial Day in twenty eleven,
(02:02):
Paul's vision became a reality as an army of volunteers
spread out across the massive military cemetery and adorned sixty
two thousand graves with flags. Here's what Paul told the
assembled crowd. In the crowd around you, there are many
gold Star families. Please, as you place a flag, say
a small prayer for these veterans. Maybe if you could
(02:25):
write down their names, go home and look them up
on the Internet. You'll be surprised at what you'll find.
Paul was later interviewed that day by NPR, fighting back
tears as he told a story about a new kitchen
set Jared and his Army pals purchased for their home,
only to give it away. One day, his buddies came
(02:46):
home and the kitchen set was missing. They asked him
where it was, and Jared said, well, I was over
at one of my soldier's houses and his kids were
eating on the floor. So I figured they needed the
kitchen set more than we did. And so this seven
hundred dollars kitchen set, well, it just disappeared. That's what
Jared did. His father described his son as a man
(03:07):
who didn't crave attention. All his medals weren't in a
sock drawer. No one ever saw him. He didn't want
to stand out. In two thousand and nine, his son
posthumously received the highest commendation any American soldier can be awarded,
the Congressional Medal of Honor. But the most powerful part
of Paul's story revolved around Jared's truck, why he didn't
(03:30):
sell it and why he still drove it. What can
I tell you? It's him, It's got his DNA all
over it. I love driving it because it reminds me
of him. Though I don't need the truck to remind
me of him. I think about him every hour of
every day. Paul shared details of his sons dodged four
(03:51):
by four RAM fifteen hundred truck adorned with decals including
the tenth Mountain Division, the eighty second Airborne Division, an
American flag, and a Go Army decal. Then came the
most emotional part of the interview. You know, I think
it's important for people to understand what gold Star parents
go through. Your child is your future, and when you
(04:14):
lose your child, you've lost your future. And I think
one of the reasons so many gold Star parents drive
their children's trucks is because they have to hold on.
They just have to hold on. I'll never forget that
interview because I was listening to it on a sunny
Memorial Day in a Walmart parking lot in my own hometown,
(04:35):
unable to get out of my suv because I was
crying so hard, crying like I used to cry when
I was a child, crying as if I'd just lost
my child. I wasn't the only one sitting alone in
my car crying that Memorial Day. Back in twenty eleven,
Nashville songwriter Connie Harrington was in her car listening to
(04:56):
the same story. Moved to tears. She did what right,
She pulled over and scribbled down details of the story
so she wouldn't forget them when she got back home.
One part of Paul's story kept crying out to her,
the story of that truck. With the help of two
songwriter friends, Harrington turned that part of the Monte story
(05:18):
and all of that emotion into a song, which country
singer Lee Brice recorded. I Drive Your Truck, made its
way quickly to number one on Billboard's Country charts. The
video has fifty million views in counting. But as remarkable
as this story was, it didn't end there. Not long
after Bryce's song became a hit, Paul was contacted by
(05:40):
a woman he knew who had lost her son in
the same battle that took his son's life. She sent
me a message that she'd heard the song and that
I had to listen to it. She knew I drove
jaredge truck and she drove her son's truck. He confessed
he was unable to make it through the whole song.
(06:01):
I got into it just a few bars, and I
kind of well, I just kind of welled up. What
Paul didn't know was that it was his story that
inspired the song. The writers eventually tracked him down to
celebrate the song's success. It won the Country Music Association's
Award for Song of the Year in twenty thirteen. The
(06:23):
song did what country music does best, tell said beautiful stories.
Here's the opening verse and chorus.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Ety nine cents in the ash tree, half empty bottle
of gay rolling in the floor, boom that dirty braves
cap on, a dash dalk tax hanging from the rear view,
old skull can and cabel boots.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And a gold army shirt.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Folding in the bad.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
This thing burns gas like crazy, but that's all right.
People got their ways cool, Benfoorn, I got mine?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
How drive your track? I roll everywhere now down and
not burning every by crown in this town.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
I find the field, tear it up to all the paines,
climb out dusty Sometimes I drive.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
You'll true.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
What we don't learn from the song. With the circumstances
of his son's death. In June of two thousand and six,
Carrot's patrol came under fire and one soldier who served
under him was wounded and help. Despite a wicked firefight,
Jared tried three times to help his fallen comrade. Who
was that last attempt that got him killed? No one
(08:10):
who knew. Jared was surprised. Here's his father. It's what
he did. Jared didn't give up on people, and always
he tried to do the right thing. What led Jared
to become the man he was One need not look
far to figure it out. His father, it turns out,
had the same passion for serving others, for doing the
(08:32):
right thing, and for doing hard things. Paul Monty recently
died at the age of seventy six from cancer in Raynham.
We learned from local media reports that he taught earth
sciences at Stouton High School for thirty five years and
rarely talked about himself. He was too busy taking care
of the people around him. Paul's daughter Nicole told reporters
(08:55):
her dad, one of nine kids growing up, worked hard
throughout his life. He delivered newspapers and worked all kinds
of odd jobs growing up, and worked two and sometimes
three jobs to support his family. He didn't complain about
it or take credit for it. It was simply who
he was. On the Massachusetts Fallen Heroes website and Facebook page,
(09:18):
his friends and colleagues wrote these words about him. Paul
relentlessly pursued a life of helping others, being a role
model and leading by example. He's left us to join
his son Jared in heaven. It's a sublime final image
of two lives beautifully lived and God's just reward for
doing so. It's why the story of Paul and Jared
(09:41):
Monty is one for the ages. It's proof that fathers matter,
and the lives of their sons and daughters, and the
life of their communities too, and proof that, as the
saying goes, it's better to live a sermon than to
give one. The story of I Drive your truck, the
story of Paul and Jared Monty, and the gold star
(10:03):
mothers and fathers who were left behind. Here on our
American stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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