A project in memory of a soldier || OnlineAthens.com
A project in memory of a soldier
By JOE VANHOOSE - joe.vanhoose@onlineathens.com
Published Monday, January 04, 2010
Buzz up!
WATKINSVILLE - Memories of Joshua Reeves, a soldier killed in Iraq in 2007, are all around his parents' house. His Christmas stocking still hangs from the mantel. Pictures of him adorn end tables.
http://images.morris.com/images/athens/mdControlled/cms/2010/01/03/542515841.jpg Kelly Lambert Jared Reeves watches last week as father James lifts up the hood of the 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 in the driveway at their home in Watkinsville. The family is restoring the truck, which belonged to Army Cpl. Joshua Reeves, who was killed while serving in Iraq in 2007.
Kelly Lambert
Jared Reeves watches last week as father James lifts up the hood of the 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 in the driveway at their home in Watkinsville. The family is restoring the truck, which belonged to Army Cpl. Joshua Reeves, who was killed while serving in Iraq in 2007.
His dog, a 3-year-old German shepherd named Athena, spends cold days curled up inside the house.
► Click here to see a gallery of Josh Reeve's Land Cruiser and restoration work
Then there's his truck - a 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 parked and broken down in the driveway.
What was Josh Reeves' four-wheel-drive toy now is his family's project. And, with the help of a couple dozen Land Cruiser enthusiasts, the vintage truck will become his rolling legacy.
Members of the Upstate Cruisers and other Land Cruiser clubs plan to come to Watkinsville and help rebuild the FJ40 over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. They hope to get the Land Cruiser running again and make all the improvements Josh Reeves had hoped to do himself.
"People are donating parts and money and their time - one guy is flying in from California just to help out," said James Reeves, Josh's father. "I had no idea so many people would want to help."
Reeves posted a message on a Land Cruiser Web forum filled with questions about fixing the FJ and a little note about the soldier it belonged to. He got a lot of advice from Steve Springs of the Upstate Cruisers club in South Carolina, but the advice only went so far.
A flood of memories of his son often stopped Reeves from getting much done.
"Every time I'd go out to work on it, I'd get misty-eyed," Reeves said. "I'd just sit in it and cry."
Springs and Reeves talked for about a year by phone and through e-mails, Reeves said, and he gradually told him the story of his son.
Josh Reeves, 26, was killed Sept. 22, 2007, after a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad. A day earlier, Reeves' wife, Leslie, gave birth to their son.
Reeves had just learned of his son's birth when he went out on patrol, his father said.
The truck will belong to Josh Reeves' son, Jackson, one day, James Reeves said.
Reeves' 24-year-old brother, Jared, plans to drive it when it's running again.
"Josh and I both had Jeep Cherokees growing up that we'd go (four) wheeling in," Jared Reeves said. "I'm going to drive (the FJ) and take care of it when it's ready. You can't fix something and let it sit."
Almost everything needs fixing.
Jared and James Reeves gutted the interior and pulled out the engine and transmission. Pieces and parts of the FJ fill about half of the Reeves' two-car garage.
It would take Jared and James at least $5,000 and a few years to get the truck running again. Now, it will take a few days.
"These old Land Cruisers aren't too difficult to work on," Springs said. "But if you don't know your way around one, they can be tricky."
Springs expects 20 to 40 Land Cruiser fanatics to help install a new engine and transmission, add a power steering pump and air conditioner, and replace several pieces on the suspension.
Automotive shops have donated parts, a refurbished engine and transmission, and local merchants have offered up everything from food to a bigger garage to work on the FJ, James Reeves said.
"The response has just been phenomenal, amazing," Reeves said. "All I keep telling them is 'thank you.' "
A project in memory of a soldier
By JOE VANHOOSE - joe.vanhoose@onlineathens.com
Published Monday, January 04, 2010
Buzz up!
WATKINSVILLE - Memories of Joshua Reeves, a soldier killed in Iraq in 2007, are all around his parents' house. His Christmas stocking still hangs from the mantel. Pictures of him adorn end tables.
http://images.morris.com/images/athens/mdControlled/cms/2010/01/03/542515841.jpg Kelly Lambert Jared Reeves watches last week as father James lifts up the hood of the 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 in the driveway at their home in Watkinsville. The family is restoring the truck, which belonged to Army Cpl. Joshua Reeves, who was killed while serving in Iraq in 2007.
Kelly Lambert
Jared Reeves watches last week as father James lifts up the hood of the 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 in the driveway at their home in Watkinsville. The family is restoring the truck, which belonged to Army Cpl. Joshua Reeves, who was killed while serving in Iraq in 2007.
His dog, a 3-year-old German shepherd named Athena, spends cold days curled up inside the house.
► Click here to see a gallery of Josh Reeve's Land Cruiser and restoration work
Then there's his truck - a 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 parked and broken down in the driveway.
What was Josh Reeves' four-wheel-drive toy now is his family's project. And, with the help of a couple dozen Land Cruiser enthusiasts, the vintage truck will become his rolling legacy.
Members of the Upstate Cruisers and other Land Cruiser clubs plan to come to Watkinsville and help rebuild the FJ40 over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. They hope to get the Land Cruiser running again and make all the improvements Josh Reeves had hoped to do himself.
"People are donating parts and money and their time - one guy is flying in from California just to help out," said James Reeves, Josh's father. "I had no idea so many people would want to help."
Reeves posted a message on a Land Cruiser Web forum filled with questions about fixing the FJ and a little note about the soldier it belonged to. He got a lot of advice from Steve Springs of the Upstate Cruisers club in South Carolina, but the advice only went so far.
A flood of memories of his son often stopped Reeves from getting much done.
"Every time I'd go out to work on it, I'd get misty-eyed," Reeves said. "I'd just sit in it and cry."
Springs and Reeves talked for about a year by phone and through e-mails, Reeves said, and he gradually told him the story of his son.
Josh Reeves, 26, was killed Sept. 22, 2007, after a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad. A day earlier, Reeves' wife, Leslie, gave birth to their son.
Reeves had just learned of his son's birth when he went out on patrol, his father said.
The truck will belong to Josh Reeves' son, Jackson, one day, James Reeves said.
Reeves' 24-year-old brother, Jared, plans to drive it when it's running again.
"Josh and I both had Jeep Cherokees growing up that we'd go (four) wheeling in," Jared Reeves said. "I'm going to drive (the FJ) and take care of it when it's ready. You can't fix something and let it sit."
Almost everything needs fixing.
Jared and James Reeves gutted the interior and pulled out the engine and transmission. Pieces and parts of the FJ fill about half of the Reeves' two-car garage.
It would take Jared and James at least $5,000 and a few years to get the truck running again. Now, it will take a few days.
"These old Land Cruisers aren't too difficult to work on," Springs said. "But if you don't know your way around one, they can be tricky."
Springs expects 20 to 40 Land Cruiser fanatics to help install a new engine and transmission, add a power steering pump and air conditioner, and replace several pieces on the suspension.
Automotive shops have donated parts, a refurbished engine and transmission, and local merchants have offered up everything from food to a bigger garage to work on the FJ, James Reeves said.
"The response has just been phenomenal, amazing," Reeves said. "All I keep telling them is 'thank you.' "
But just throwing this out again If you have heaters PLEASE bring them 
Talked to Steve tonight and he also promised that I would get a chance to try some real down home Grits 
I feed my dog better than that!!