A look at the mobility-equipped 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor truck being driven in the 2017 Truck Run. (Military Order of the Purple Heart)

A look at the mobility-equipped 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor truck being driven in the 2017 Truck Run. (Military Order of the Purple Heart)

This mobility-equipped 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor truck will be driven on the 8,500-mile Purple Heart Truck Run from Arlington, Va. to Dallas. (Military Order of the Purple Heart)

Saturday marks the start of an 8,500-mile, six-week journey of a mobility-equipped 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor truck from one of the nation's most revered war memorials to a gathering in Dallas, where it will be presented to a wounded warrior.

The Purple Heart Truck Run, co-sponsored by the Military Order of the Purple Heart and Wounded Warriors Family Support with a theme of "Mobility is Freedom," is intended to raise awareness of both its mission and the sacrifices of veterans on stops around the nation, from coast to coast, before its conclusion at the MOPH convention in Dallas on August 13. The vehicle will be driven by amputee veterans along the way, starting at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, Va. on Saturday.

At the end of the journey, the truck will be presented to retired Marine Corps Sgt. Marshall Kennedy, from Farmington, Ark.,who lost both legs and suffered severe damage to his left arm in an IED attack in Afghanistan in 2011. Kennedy was selected after a nationwide search.