ERMA – One mile. One flag. One hero. That’s the motto of a four day, 190+-mile memorial run that will make its way up the New Jersey coastline to honor fallen service men and women.
Before the runners take off on their journey, the participants, supporters and gold star families will gather on the evening of Sept. 26 at 4:45 p.m. at a somber remembrance ceremony at the Naval Air Station Wildwood’s historic hangar #1 to remember the lives of New Jersey’s most recent war dead.
The run team will begin in Lower Township at Sunset Beach on Sept. 27 at 7:45 a.m. and head north to the finish on Sept. 30 at Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Holmdel in Monmouth County. The run honors every service member from New Jersey who laid down their lives in the war on terror, and all wars and conflicts.
“The New Jersey Run for the Fallen is an organization of military runners and support crew whose mission is clear and simple: To run one mile for each New Jersey service member who have died during the GWOT (Global War on Terror). Each mile of sweat and pain and each flag saluted, is to pay homage to one service member’s life and their family.”
They raise awareness of the lives of those who have 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 the war.
The core running team is made up of active-duty military personnel. The core team runners, moving at an eight minute mile pace, will carry the U.S. flag, the New Jersey state flag and the “Honor and Remember” flag. The core teams each run seven mile sections.
The team stops at each mile along the route at hero markers for those New Jersey residents killed in battle. The core running team then presents an American flag and a personal biographical card to the waiting family members, friends and comrades. Those family members and friends often choose to join the core running team for their soldier’s mile.
The intent is to create a memorial trail through New Jersey.
Among the fallen heroes is Thomas J. Casey, 32, an Army Captain from Cape May Point. He was killed on Jan. 3, 2008, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, will be honored at Hero Marker One at approximately 7:51 a.m. on West Lake Drive in Cape May Point.
He had been retired three years from the Army after his first tour in Iraq, when he re-enlisted and was again deployed to Iraq. He died in As Sadiyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit using small arms fire during combat operations.
Lower Cape May Regional High School graduate Michael Scusa, 22, an Army sergeant killed on Oct. 3, 2009 in Kamdesh, Afghanistan, will be honored at Hero Marker 16 at approximately 10:13 a.m., in front of Lower Cape May Regional High School.
Scusa, a 2005 Lower graduate, lived in the Villas. He grew up in Nebraska, moved to Cape May County in 1999, and enlisted in the Army out of high school. He had been married about two years at the time of his death and had a one-year-old son, Connor.
The final mile of the run is dedicated to all prisoners of war and those missing in action from all military conflicts.
The Run for the Fallen’s website, www.njrun.org, has a comprehensive map with hero marker locations and the time the running team is scheduled to arrive.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
