J.J. Watt (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

On Monday, NFL star J.J. Watt launched a new Reebok “Valor” shoe to honor veterans like his late grandfather – and says he will donate all of his personal proceeds to a veterans’ organization that takes veterans to visit the Nation’s Capital.

Watt, a defensive end for the Houston Texans, made the announcement in a Twitter post:

“All of my proceeds go to the Honor Flight which takes war veterans on a trip to D.C. to visit the monuments and brings them back home to a proper Welcome Home.”

The tweet includes a video of Watt explaining that the new “Valor 2” shoe line is dedicated to his grandfather, James, and follows last year’s first Valor shoe campaign supporting the Navy Seal Foundation:

“This is going to be the Valor Two, and what I wanted to do is honor my grandpa. My grandpa, who is no longer with us, he was in the Korean War. I grew up hearing his stories about Pork Chop Hill and all his time over in Korea, so I wanted to honor him.”

JJ III Valor Edition



Inspired by Grandpa Watt



All of my proceeds go to the Honor Flight which takes war veterans on a trip to D.C. to visit the monuments and brings them back home to a proper Welcome Home.



Available tonight at midnight.https://t.co/FfXs88iNQQ



Thank you 🙏🏼🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/YAAjinRTod — JJ Watt (@JJWatt) November 11, 2019

“All of my personal proceeds are going to be donated to the Honor Flight. And five dollars from every shoe, up to twenty-five grand from Reebok, is going to be donated to the Honor Flight,” Watt says.



The Honor Flight, Watt explains, flies veterans to Washington, D.C. and takes them on a tour of its historic monuments:

“They take veterans – from the Korea War, World War II and all the past wars – and they fly them to Washington, D.C., they take them to see all the monuments that have been built and all the statues that have been built. And, then they fly them back home, when they land back home at the airport, all their family and friends are waiting, lined up to see them.”

The new, Korean War-themed, Valor shoe includes his grandfather’s name, division, battalion, and regiment.



