VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A four-day, 250-mile run honoring fallen Virginia servicemembers left from Fort Story in Virginia Beach on Thursday morning.
The Run for the Fallen finishes Sunday at Arlington National Cemetery.
Organized by nonprofit Honor and Remember, the Virginia Run for the Fallen is a relay that pays tribute to servicemen and women who died fighting in the War on Terror, dating back to 2000.
Along the route, runners are stopping at "Hero Marker Locations" to read aloud the names of those who have died, most recently in 2023. Many of the names read served in Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and New Dawn.
This year's run honors 808 heroes, according to the event's website.
One of them is TSGT Kevin Shelton, an Air Force member from Virginia Beach who passed away in 2021. This year was his family's first attending the Run for the Fallen in his honor.
“It’s been really difficult so any time there’s an opportunity to honor my nephew, I’m going to be here," said Shelton's aunt Tamara Carrouthers-Stancell. “He was gentle, he was loving, he was kind, he was a family man.”
TSGT Shelton's name was read during one of the first Hero Marker stops in First Landing State Park.
Day 1 of the route covered much of Hampton Roads, seeing runners move from Fort Story, along Shore Drive, across the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and then north through Gloucester before ending in Middlesex County.
Click HERE for a closer look at the route.
