Ryan Curry is an Iraq veteran who does charity work through his group "Beneath the Beard," which was formed to help military veterans with PTSD.
On Tuesday, some of Curry's colleagues from the Rockford firefighter's union invited him out to Old Chicago for lunch.
"I was getting a hold of some other people with the fundraising things we were doing, and a police officer came in and said someone had hit my car," said a surprised Curry.
What started as a white lie ended with a wounded Marine vet receiving a much needed pickup truck.
The Rockford Firefighters Local 413 raises money each year to purchase cars for wounded vets, and Curry was this year's winner.
"I got wounded in Iraq in 2006, August 30th," Curry said. "I hit and IED and I hit a lot of them. So, that was my 7th concussion within 30 days, so I had some damage to my frontal lobe. The final time I hit, I put some shrapnel in my body, and severed by ear drums."