ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A Marine Corps veteran launched an online fundraiser to restore the truck of a fellow Marine who was killed while serving the country 15 years ago.
Preston Davenport said he wants to restore the truck that his late best friend, Josh Dumaw, used to own before he was killed while they were serving together in Afghanistan in 2010. He said he hopes to give the truck to Dumaw’s son.
“I know I’ll be putting more into the truck than its market value, but this isn’t about resale. It’s about legacy. It’s about honoring Josh,” Davenport wrote in the GoFundMe campaign.
Davenport remembers his last conversation with Dumaw like it was yesterday.
“We got out of the truck to do our sweeps around the truck. And I said, ‘Hey, give me the metal detector.’ I kept on repeating it because I wanted to protect him,” Davenport said.
Moments later, Dumaw was killed.
Dumaw never had the chance to meet his son, Bodie. But Davenport stepped in, honoring a bond that didn’t end on the battlefield.
“I was able to cut the Bodie’s umbilical cord, and just be there when he was first born,” Davenport said.
After finishing his deployment, Preston moved in with Josh’s family.
“He looks like him, acts like him, and it’s just, he’s always adventurous and talkative, just like his dad was,” Davenport said.
But now, Davenport is focused on passing down something else.
“I always wanted to give him the truck, or in some way, somehow, to kind of restore, keep Josh’s memory alive,” Davenport said. “Bodie got excited when it was unloading the truck. So I was like, wait, I’ve been wanting to restore it and whatnot, and seeing his excitement kind of set everything else in motion.”
The old truck wasn’t just a way to get around. It was their space, filled with memories of muddy roads, music, and brotherhood.
“There’s days we just take it to work and sit in it and have our breakfast before our day starts, or after work, just take it down to a dirt road, hit some mud puddles, listen to music, and whatnot. So this truck has seen a lot of things,” Davenport said.
Davenport said he hopes to give Bodie the truck as a 15th birthday gift in September.
Click here if you’d like to contribute to Davenport’s fundraiser.
