You’ve got to give it to the man: not only is Jay Leno an outstanding comedian and a hell of a car fanatic with a huge collection, he’s also got a soft side – and he’s willing to share some of the goods.
The 64-year old Leno said that, having visited US troops in Afghanistan in October, he felt he had to give a gift to one of them. “You know, not the usual stuff, nothing that reminds them of their situation, something fun”, he said at NBC’s “Shine a Light” series.
“We took all these wounded warriors and did a sort of lottery and reached in and picked a soldier at random to do something for him and hopefully it expresses what we want to do for all soldiers”, he added.
The name that came out was that of Cpl. Ethan Leberge, who was on foot patrol in Afghanistan when a suicide bomber detonated, killing two of his fellow soldiers and seriously injuring him.
“I had shrapnel that went through my foot to my left knee and I had a hole in the back of my left leg”, said Leberge, who also suffered a brain injury that’s been causing him memory problems.
Leno admitted that most soldiers he meets are barely out of their teens and he can sense the generation gap. With Leberge, though, they had something in common: their love for cars.
So the TV host/comedian/car lover took Leberge for a joyride in the new 707HP Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. When they returned back to base, the soldier commented that “it was awesome… I wouldn’t mind having one of these”.
Leno then threw him the keys: “It’s yours”, he said. “America loves you. Don’t get any tickets.”
Leberge smiled: “I can’t promise that”. Well, no one could blame him…