#192: SSG Alex Viola Memorial Car Show - Gold Star Father Frank Viola

Cars aren’t just a mode of transportation. They’re a passion. An image. A lifestyle. For many families, they are the bond that brings together father and son. For Frank Viola, cars are the legacy of his son, Green Beret SSG Alex Viola.  

Alex graduated as a Green Beret in 2011 and then went on to get his Combat Dive Certification. In September 2013, his team deployed to Afghanistan as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom. On November 17, 2013 Alex lost his life to an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) while on dismounted patrol.

After the loss of their son, Frank and his family faced the unimaginable challenge of how to move forward. The answer came from something Alex loved deeply: cars. Alex was a true car guy, and restoring vehicles with his dad was one of the ways they spent time together.

What began as a simple idea to honor Alex’s memory turned into the SSG Alex Viola Memorial Car Show. The first event was held in freezing weather with modest expectations, but the community showed up, raising twenty thousand dollars that first year alone.

Today the event has grown into something far greater than anyone imagined. Nearly four hundred cars fill the lot each year, and the show has raised nearly seven hundred thousand dollars to support charitable causes, including the families of Green Berets through the Green Beret Foundation.

Host Fran Racioppi sits down with Frank Viola to share how this fundraiser is more than impressive horsepower and jaw-dropping donations. It’s a powerful story of resilience, community, and how one family's determination not only honors a fallen hero but has also remarkably reunited their own distant family members and created a new, unbreakable bond with Alex’s former Green Beret teammates.

Highlights

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:57 Welcome to the Jedburgh Podcast
• 2:22 Who was SSG Alex Viola?
• 6:11 Why a Car Show?
• 10:05 How loss brought the family together
• 12:34 Alex’s Team
• 16:03 The 2025 Show
• 17:02 Working with the Foundations
• 18:36 Advice for Future Green Berets

Quotes

• “Alex was a father’s dream of a son.”
• “His whole thing was to be out there in the ditches with the guys.”
• “Alex was a car guy.”
• “In a million years, we never expected anything like it.”
• “We have a goal of reaching $1,000,000 in donations.”
• “There’s been some of my cousins that I’ve never met, but because of this, now we’re really close.”
• “They’re like our own kids.”
• “Losing Alex was probably the worst thing that could ever happen to any parent.”
• “It’s just been a win win all the way around.”
• “They know we’re always going to do the right thing.”
• “The whole theme of both organizations is supporting the families of fallen and wounded warriors’ families.”
• “I don’t think that anyone can just become a Green Beret. You have to be a special kind of person.”
• “It’s either you have it or you don’t.”

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