The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has always found ways to pay tribute to our veterans. This year, one combat wounded veteran was selected to receive a custom motorcycle that will allow him to get back on the open road.

Meet Marine Staff Sergeant, Jack Pierce. He says his call to serve in the military came after a lifetime of traveling around the world with his family while his dad served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Staff Sergeant Jack Pierce says, "I always loved the military when I was a kid and I wanted to be part of the best."

In 1995, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, leading him through a distinguished military career that saw him serve two deployments in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, he was serving as a Platoon Sergeant for a motor transport company. Three months into that deployment, his company was on a routine re-supply mission when his world turned upside down.

Pierce says, "I was actually the last vehicle in the convoy. There were three terrorists that had went out there and planted 200 pounds of C4 under the road.We were just rolling and the explosion went. I knew I was paralyzed because I couldn't feel anything from my stomach down."

He was rescued 10 minutes after the explosion.After being transported to several different military hospitals and undergoing countless surgeries, he ended up at the Palo Alto VA hospital in San Francisco to undergo rehabilitation and reconstructive procedures. It was there he discovered Mobility Works, and their motorcycle, the Mobility Conquest, which is specially designed to be ridden by disabled riders.

Pierce says, "That's when they actually introduced me to the Conquest. So I said 'Hey, what's that thing over there?' He said, 'Oh yeah, why don't you come check this thing out' and they let me get in it and ride it."

And after outfitting his prized truck with their equipment, he learned that he had been nominated for a contest where he could win one of those very motorcycles. And after being informed that he was a finalist for the giveaway, he arrived in South Dakota on Friday.Saturday night, he was announced the winner at One Eyed Jack's in Sturgis.

Pierce says, "I just, I had not clue. It was just such a surprise to hear my name called and an unbelievable experience."

Sunday, he's spending time just enjoying the Black Hills on his new wheels before he heads back home to Texas. But that's not the end of the story for Pierce and his bike. He says he wants to pay-it-forward and use the bike to show other wounded soldiers, recovering in his home state, that there is no reason to give up hope of leading normal lives.

Pierce says, "I want to show them what they can do now and say, 'Hey, you can still live.' You can still go out there and ride and you can still enjoy life and you can go to places like Sturgis and just experience it out there, and you don't have to be stuck in some minivan just living."

And if life is a highway, you can bet this bike will send a message to more wounded vets that it's still worth riding.

Pierce says, "It's good to be alive. This is the time and place. It's just good to be here."

Brendyn Medina