Run for the Fallen honors service members lost in the War on Terror
Service members who lost their lives in the War on Terror will be honored in multiple parts of the state, including parts of Brunswick County on Monday and Tuesday, as part of a five-month tribute run spanning 6,000 miles across 19 states.
The 2018 Run for the Fallen, sponsored by Honor and Remember, individually acknowledges the nearly 20,000 service members who have died in the war since the USS Cole bombing on Oct. 12, 2000 -- whether in battle or due to the overwhelming emotional scars of serving.
A core group of marathon-trained runners, ranging from two to 20 depending on the day, run about 50 miles a day from Fort Irwin, California, to Arlington National Cemetery. The journey started on April 7 and will continue until Aug. 5. The group of runners generally rotate throughout the day, and most runners only sign up for a portion of the 6,000-mile journey.
Each hero has been attached to a specific mile and day. At every one-mile interval, the runners stop at a marker and read aloud the rank, name, branch of service and death date of several heroes. For example, on Tuesday, July 24 -- day 109 of the journey -- the 150 service members who died from April 25, 2016, to June 29, 2016, will be honored.
People can wait at their loved ones' marker to meet the runners and hear the names called out in a short, one-minute ceremony before the team continues to the next marker. At the end of each day, the Run for the Fallen team hosts a longer ceremony and meal, welcome to anyone, and every name read that day is said aloud again.
Kathy Moore of Ayden, a Gold Star mother and the N.C. chapter director of Honor and Remember, said she is touched that the runners would do so much to honor strangers.
“As a general rule, these people don’t have any idea who these fallen service members were,” Moore said. “All they know is they appreciate what they did, so that means tons to me.”
The journey will go through North Carolina from July 23 to 31. Runners will enter the state from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, at about noon on Monday and end in Bolivia at about 5:30 p.m. The team will start at 7 a.m. Tuesday on Southport-Supply Road near St. James and end in Leland around 5:30 p.m.
Monday’s ending ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. in the Holiday Inn Express banquet room, 3400 Southport-Supply Road SE in Bolivia. Tuesday’s ending ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. in the Holiday Inn Express banquet room, 1020 Grandiflora Drive in Leland.
Brandon Nix of Wilmington, a semi-professional athlete, will participate as a core runner for three days this week. He said he’s looking forward to honoring Gold Star families who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“The fact that these families don’t get as much support as they deserve -- it’s a good feeling to be able to show them that people actually think about them and support them,” Nix said.
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For more information
To learn more about Run for the Fallen and when and where fallen service members will be honored, visit www.runforthefallen.org or @run4fallen. To find out more details about the route in North Carolina, email NCchapter@honorandremember.org or call Laura Sutton at 480-495-4668.