RUNNERS MEMORIALIZE LIVES LOST & LOVE THAT CAN NEVER BE FORGOTTEN
TAPS Has Slots Available for the Marine Corps Marathon, 10K & Kids Fun Run
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 31, 2008
PHOTOS AVAILABLE
WASHINGTON – They are widows who lost the loves of their lives, parents who buried their sons, buddies who saw a comrade fall in a desert battle, and children who will grow up without a parent. And they are also runners.
The TAPS “Run and Remember” team is a group of surviving family members and their supporters, who are training for the 33rd annual Marine Corps Marathon, which is held in our nation’s capital city the last weekend of October. They’ll run the marathon, the 10K and even the 1-mile kids fun run. They’ll wear t-shirts emblazoned with photos, dog tags that clink with each step, and spur each other toward the finish line.
But most of all, they’ll run to honor the people they’ve lost. Their loved ones may have fallen in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, or closer to home in a training crash or accident – but the runners say none will be forgotten.
They’re runners like Leticia Jones, who supported her friend Xiomara Hall, when news arrived that Xiomara’s husband, US Marine Lt. Col. William G. Hall, had been killed in action in Iraq in March 2008. “I am running to honor Will and this year of firsts for his wife Xiomara and their 4 children. They have become more than friends; they are our family,” wrote Leticia. Xiomara Hall will be running her first marathon in memory of her husband, and is leading Team Semper Fi, which includes 11 runners.
Organizers say there are still running slots available in the marathon, the 10K, and the kids fun run for surviving family members and friends who’ve lost someone serving in the military. Runners who want to support TAPS and would like to be matched with a family and run in memory of a fallen hero are also welcome to register. If you are already registered for Marine Corps Marathon or the Army Ten-Miler, you can transfer to the TAPS team. Sign-up information and runner profiles are available at www.taps.org.
Organizers say that even if you can’t run across the finish line, you can always volunteer with the TAPS “Run and Remember” team, donate on a runner’s web page to memorialize a fallen hero, or visit the race course in-person with a sign and noisemaker to cheer TAPS team members to the finish line. Amid the thousands of runners who participate in the Marine Corps Marathon each year – the TAPS “Run and Remember” team is a testament to the power of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming sorrow.
The TAPS “Run and Remember” team began with one runner. In 1996, Marie Campbell lost her husband, US Air Force Sergeant Dee “Soup” Campbell, when a terrorist truck bomb exploded at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and took the lives of 19 air men. “TAPS helped me so much in those early years, and I ran the Marine Corps Marathon as part of my own healing,” said Marie Campbell.
“Now I do this to give back to others who need grief and recovery support, so TAPS can continue to support the many surviving families who’ve lost someone serving in the military and are walking the road I once walked down,” said Campbell. Today, Campbell is the director of the TAPS “Run and Remember” team, and busies herself organizing chats that motivate runners, and the host of organizational challenges posed by holding a three-day event attended by more than 250 people that includes a pasta dinner, memorial slide show, and bus service to the starting lines. And yes, she also trains. She’ll be running her 8th marathon this year.
TAPS is the national organization providing compassionate care for the families of America’s fallen military heroes. TAPS provides peer-based emotional support, grief and trauma resources, seminars, case work assistance, and 24/7 crisis intervention care for all who have been affected by a death in the Armed Forces. Services are provided free of charge. For more information go to www.taps.org or call the toll-free crisis line at 800.959.TAPS.
Media Contact: Ami Neiberger-Miller, Public Affairs Officer, TAPS, phone 202.588.8277, ami@taps.org
PHOTO CAPTIONS
Photos may be requested by contacting ami@taps.org.
Photo 1: Running to Remember: One Widow’s Journey Helps Many More
The TAPS “Run and Remember” team at the Marine Corps Marathon began with one runner, Marie Campbell, who is pictured talking with runners on race day in 2007. She lost her husband when a terrorist truck bomb exploded at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Campbell began running the marathon as part of her own healing and a way to help TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. In 2008, more than 200 runners, many of them families who lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be on the TAPS Run & Remember Team. Sponsor a runner or sign-up at www.taps.org.
Photo 2: Tiniest Runners Carry a Message of Hope
The smallest runners on the TAPS “Run and Remember” team at the Marine Corps Marathon may also be the bravest. They’re the children of our fallen heroes. Many of them lost a parent who served in the military. They run to honor the person they’ve lost and alongside friends who understand. Sponsored by the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), the “Run and Remember” team’s adult runners will tackle the 10K and marathon on October 26, 2008. Sponsor a runner or sign-up at www.taps.org.
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