JCB Partners with Rock Star Joe Walsh and Vetsaid to Aid Veterans

The partnership will raise awareness and funds for U.S. veterans through the power of rock and the transformative process of rebuilding.
July 17, 2024
3 min read
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JCB announced a long-term partnership with multi-Grammy award winning musician and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Joe Walsh and his national 501(c)3 non-profit veterans organization and annual benefit festival, VetsAid. The partnership will raise awareness and funds for U.S. veterans through the power of rock and the transformative process of rebuilding.

JCB, one of the world's largest privately owned manufacturers of construction and agricultural equipment, often deploys its machines in war-torn regions, playing a crucial role in the rebuilding process after conflicts. Recognizing their shared values and goals, Alice Bamford and Ann Eysenring of JCB reached out to their friends Joe and Marjorie Walsh and devised a partnership to generate additional valuable funds for American veterans.


The creative partnership kicks off with the official premiere of "Dig It" – an original song by Joe Walsh, debuting in London on July 13th during Monster Jam. The song, which features Walsh’s brother-in-law Ringo Starr on drums, will be the soundtrack for JCB’s DIGatron and serve as a call-to-action to support the vital mission of VetsAid. Inspired by Bamford and Eysenring’s 8-year-old son Otis, a monster truck enthusiast himself, Walsh sought to capture the excitement of a child and the raw energy of monster truck action in his composition.

 

Joe Walsh has had a five-decade rock career with The Eagles, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, and the James Gang.

Additionally, JCB has pledged $250,000 to VetsAid to kick-off the partnership. Next up, supporters can also look out for limited-edition merchandise, a special JCB DIGatron toy and even a limited edition JCB machine, with a percentage of sales benefiting the non-profit organization.
 
“It is absolutely amazing to be working with Joe Walsh to raise further awareness for U.S. veterans,” said Bamford. “This is a legacy project between two families which will help give veterans and their families in the U.S. a better future, and offer them the care and support they deserve, which is something very close to all our hearts.”

Veterans and their families have always been important to Walsh, a Gold Star son himself who lost his father, Robert Newton Fidler, a U.S. Army Air Corps flight instructor for the first American operational jet-powered aircraft, while he was on active duty over Okinawa when Walsh was only 20 months old.

“VetsAid isn’t just about raising money and awareness for America’s veterans and their families,” Walsh said. “It’s also about finding common ground amongst music lovers of all backgrounds and coming together to build and rebuild communities around a shared love of country. It’s a privilege for us at VetsAid to expand upon this vision with Alice and Ann, and our friends at JCB, and to keep the party going with this kick-ass new song and exciting partnership!” 
 
For more information, please visit www.vetsaid.org

 

 

 

About the Author

Michael Roth

Editor

Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.

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