HOLMDEL — A team of active-duty and reserve airmen and soldiers from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, along with a team of wounded veterans, will embark on a 154-mile journey to honor every New Jersey service member killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
“NJ Run for the Fallen” will kick off on Friday, Sept. 23 with a two-mile run/walk from Cape May Lighthouse to Sunset Beach, where there will be a “Sunset Flag Ceremony.” At 6:30 a.m. the following morning, the run team will start from Sunset Beach on the two-day, 154-mile run to finish at the N.J. Vietnam Veterans’Memorial in Holmdel on National Gold Star Family Day, Sunday, Sept. 25. A Gold Star Family is one who has lost a son or daughter in military service.
Every mile has been dedicated to an individual N.J. hero, and the run team will stop at each hero marker that will line the route to present a flag and personalized biographical card to waiting family members and friends, with the goal of creating a 154- mile memorial trail through New Jersey.
This year, the Run Team will be joined in CapeMay by members of Team Hope for the Warriors. H4W is a team of wounded service members who will be on foot and in adaptive wheelchairs as an integral part of the run team. In their honor, the Friday twomile run/walk has been named “NJRFTF Hope for the Warriors Lighthouse Run/Walk,” and the public is invited to participate alongside the wounded warriors. More details are available on the website, www.NJRunfortheFallen.org, and at hopeforthewarriors.org/index.html.
On the morning of Sunday, Sept. 23, the run will pause at VFW Post 4715 in Point Pleasant to honor and remember the 18 N.J. heroes from Beirut, Lebanon, Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield, and Somalia. On Sunday afternoon, as the run enters Holmdel, there will again be opportunities for the public to show their support and run alongside the team either for a one-mile or five-mile segment, continuing to the PNC Bank Arts Center to finish at the N.J. Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, where there will be a ceremony not only to mark the end of the run, but also to dedicate a Gold Star Family remembrance area and to honor and remember the four N.J. heroes who died in the attack on the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
For more information and to learn how to participate by joining the run, donating or volunteering, visit the NJ Run for the Fallen website at www.njrunforthefallen.org and the Hope for the Warriors website at http://hopeforthewarriors.org.