In September, New Jersey’s “Run for the Fallen,” a four-day memorial run of 190+ miles, made its way up the New Jersey coastline to honor fallen service men and women.
On the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, veterans, active-duty military, families and Gold Star Mothers gathered at Sunset Beach to remember the lives of New Jersey’s most recent war dead, as well as World War II veteran Marvin Hume. Hume passed away in spring 2015, and is best remembered for honoring veterans by raising and lowering their casket flags during nightly ceremonies at his Sunset Beach property. During the Sept. 20 ceremony, Hume’s casket flag was lowered at sunset. The ceremony included the singing of “God Bless America” and the national anthem by members of Lower Cape May Regional High School, and the playing of “Taps” by a Coast Guard seaman.
This ceremony marked the beginning of the run, which began at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21 at the Cape May Lighthouse. The run included a core running team made up of active military personnel, carrying the U.S. flag, the New Jersey state flag and the “Honor and Remember” flag. The runners were guided and protected by volunteers who rode in vehicles ahead of and behind the runners as they made their way to Holmdel, paying tribute to their fallen comrades and Gold Star families along the way.
As the organization’s mission statement states, “We run across New Jersey to raise awareness for the lives of those who fought and died, to rejuvenate their memories and keep their spirits alive, to support organizations that aid the families of those killed, and to aid in the healing process for the native New Jersey residents whose lives have been affected by war and conflict.”
To honor these service members, the team stopped at each mile along the route at hero markers for those New Jersey residents killed in battle, with the intention to create a memorial trail through New Jersey. The core running team presented an American flag and a personal biographical card at each hero marker to the waiting family members, friends and comrades – hence the run’s motto, “One mile. One flag. One hero.” Many of those family members and friends chose to join the core running team for their soldier’s mile.
On Thursday, the run made 76 stops in Cape May County before ending the day in Ocean City. One of the early stops was Lower Cape May Regional High School to remember 2005 graduate Michael P. Scusa. Scusa, 22 of Villas, was an Army sergeant killed on Oct. 3, 2009 in Kamdesh, Afghanistan.
That same day, the run passed through Wildwood Crest and made four stops: Crest Memorial School for Salvatore Corma, a home on Hollywood Avenue for Gennaro Pellegrino, Sunset Lake for Omar Vazquez and Centennial Park for Charles D. Robinson. Students from Crest Memorial Elementary School greeted the runners as they arrived for their brief stop on the school’s grounds.
Friday morning, Sept. 22, runners continued up the coast toward the NJ Gold Star Family Monument located on the grounds of the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, Holmdel, where the run ended on Sunday, Sept. 24.
For more information on the run, visit njrunforthefallen.org.
