SUNSET BEACH – A gathering of veterans, active-duty military, families, and Gold Star Mothers watched Sept. 20 as Marvin Hume’s casket flag was lowered at sunset at the Delaware Bay beach he made famous.
That ceremony marked the beginning of the 2017 New Jersey Run for the Fallen which began at 8 a.m. Sept. 21 at the Cape May Lighthouse.
A mile-run in memory of Hume began the late afternoon ceremony. Taking part in that run was Eileen Kreis, vice president of the New Jersey Run for the Fallen. She was joined by several core runners.
Hume, a Navy veteran, honored departed veterans by flying their casket flags on a daily basis at Sunset Beach. Those ceremonies, like the one Sept. 20, included the singing of “God Bless America” as well as the national anthem.
Members of Lower Cape May Regional High School sang those songs.
A Coast Guard seaman played “Taps” as the crowd hushed. Members of the Coast Guard Training Center Ceremonial Detail held flags.
Mike Schaffer of American Legion Post 129, Toms River, chaplain for the New Jersey Run for the Fallen, invoked a blessing on those who would be remembered in the run. That odyssey north ended Sept. 24 at the New Jersey Vietnam Memorial in Holmdel.
Names of New Jersey’s fallen military since Sept. 1, 2001, were read by those who would run the distance. A bell tolled after each name.
Among those who read names of those heroes was Joseph Griffies, a Rio Grande resident, Vietnam veteran, and veterans advocate.
Crest Welcomes NJ Run for the Fallen
The annual New Jersey Run for the Fallen passed through the Borough of Wildwood Crest Sept. 21, according to a release.
New Jersey Run for the Fallen includes a core run team of active military personnel who run more than 190 miles over four days from Cape May to Holmdel to pay tribute to their fallen comrades and Gold Star Families, according to the event’s website. The run makes numerous brief stops along the way to honor individual members of the military who died while on active service.
The runners were guided and protected by volunteers who rode in vehicles ahead of and behind the runners.
This year’s New Jersey Run for the Fallen made four stops in Wildwood Crest; 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.
Wildwood Crest Police Department provided an escort for the runners through the borough.
The runners continued through Wildwood and North Wildwood before departing the island Thursday afternoon.
For more information on the New Jersey Run for the Fallen, log on to www.njrun.org.
