This song was a tribute to the song "Phantom 309", by Red Sovine. The song was inspired by an accident in Saugus, Mass, when a truck driver, transporting fuel, swerved to avoid a school bus and was killed in the subsequent explosion. The school children all survived. The truck driver, and another unlucky driver, in the wrong place at the wrong time, were killed.
The truck driver was my grandfather, John William "Pete" Trudelle. My father is his oldest son. There were four other siblings, all left to struggle with poverty in Troy, NH.
51 Years later, a memorial in his honor was etched into a large stone tablet and placed in Troy, NH's town square. This was last weekend, September 13th, 2014.
Here's a newspaper article that tells the story well:
This song was a tribute to the song "Phantom 309", by Red Sovine. The song was inspired by an accident in Saugus, Mass, when a truck driver, transporting fuel, swerved to avoid a school bus and was killed in the subsequent explosion. The school children all survived. The truck driver, and another unlucky driver, in the wrong place at the wrong time, were killed.
The truck driver was my grandfather, John William "Pete" Trudelle. My father is his oldest son. There were four other siblings, all left to struggle with poverty in Troy, NH.
51 Years later, a memorial in his honor was etched into a large stone tablet and placed in Troy, NH's town square. This was last weekend, September 13th, 2014.
Here's a newspaper article that tells the story well:
http://www.sentinelsource.com/opinion/columnists/staff/gilbert/monument-on-common-to-honor-troy-man-by-steve-gilbert/article_71abe626-f66c-5716-8444-a22d30891ee6.html