Yesterday, Richard and I went to Arlington National Cemetery to witness the end of the Run for the Fallen, a relay that started in California in June and crossed more than 4,000 miles, a mile for every one who had died in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Afghanistan and Iraq. The runners left a marker at every mile commemorating the individual servicemember. Thomas's is somewhere in Colorado. Because there is no running inside of Arlington, the run part actually ended at the Metro stop entrance, just outside the gates. There was a very touching speech from the back of a pickup truck by the young man who organized this (and I really hope there is video available somewhere, there were cameras) who described this event as a living memorial. I liked that. There were tears. There was no pontificating. In this most political of years, there were no politicians.

We all walked into Arlington, to Section 60, where the brother and father of one of the fallen spoke briefly, and a Marine in uniform played Taps. And then we visited graves, leaving
flowers and stones on the markers. Richard and I left carnations on Michael Bordelon's grave, and then visited others whose names we've come to know, or whose parents we have met. Nicholas Ziolkowski and David Branning, Marylanders who died the same week as Thomas. T.J. Barbieri who lived in Montgomery County--T.J.'s anniversary was August 23rd and his marker was surrounded by flowers and pictures. Steven Auchman who was killed in Mosul two days before Thomas. Others whose names we recognized and whose stories we had heard.

It's a difficult thing to do, visiting Section 60. Too many young men and women who could have been friends. Too many grieving families.

Anyway, I encourage any of you reading this to explore the website of Run for the Fallen: http://www.runforthefallen.org/ They have links to other memorial sites and I spent some time last night looking through them. And if any of the organizers read this, Thank You guys.