05/07/2023
Sunday story time, grab your coffee and lets spend some time together again.
Today we are going to talk about Flags4Fallen. They are once again going to have a presence at the Cops and Robbers 5K and are an amazing organization.
Flags4Fallen is a team that recruits runners and walkers of any distance and in any event to carry American Flags in honor of a life done too soon. These flags are then given to the surviving family. They are sometimes mailed to the family and sometimes, they are given to a family member in person at the completion of the event. They were established in Fort Wayne in 2012 and since then have honored countless individuals from all across the country.
I stumbled across their page in October of 2017 and thought that they had a great mission and I wanted to be a part of what they were doing. My then 10 year old son and I were registered for a 5k race at Purdue and I reached out to them to see if we could carry a flag in a future event. They quickly found 2 families for us to run in honor of at the event just a few weeks away.
My son ran with a flag in honor of a 20 year old Army Reservist from Lafayette named Luke Frist. Luke died while serving his country in Iraq in 2004 when the truck he was driving ran over a mine. I ran with a flag in honor of David Spears who died in 1966 serving his country in Vietnam when a mortar round exploded near his tent.
The mother of Luke Frist was able to make it to the race and met us at the finish line. My son presented her with the flag he ran with and we took it to a pair of military recruiters who had a table set up near by and had them officially fold it to be given to her.
It was an incredible honor to run with a flag for this organization and it was amazing to include my young son. This year another of my kids asked to run with a flag at the Cops and Robbers 5k and they found a local young man for him to run in honor of. I am grateful for the work they do and am proud to have them be a part of the Cops and Robbers 5k. Attached are some of the pictures from the Purdue 5k from 2017.
We can’t wait to see everyone on the 20th for another amazing event.