9/11 March From Joint Base To NYC Honors Lives Lost In Attacks

JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ — Sometime Tuesday afternoon, a group of 30 men and women will reach the World Trade Center memorial site, where the names of those who died 17 years ago in the terror attacks on Sept. 11 have been read to mark the anniversary.

The group — a combination of active-duty service members and veterans — have been marching since Monday morning, when they departed from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on their 9/11 Memorial 100 Mile March. They had reached Jersey City by 10 a.m. and were on their way to Hoboken, where they will cross into New York City and head to the tip of Manhattan.

The sole purpose: to honor the dead and to support the 9/11 Memorial Foundation and the memorial at Ground Zero, not only through the visible support, but also financial: the event is a fundraiser for the foundation. This is the sixth year of the memorial march, which has raised $10,000 in the past and was nearing $10,000 for this year's march alone. The march is not sponsored by the Joint Base but a base spokesperson said the participants have the base's support for the effort.

"We all just wanted to give back, and to support the memorial," said Jared Todd of Idaho, one of the group members making the hike. "This is an event that impacted America and people all over the world."

Todd said the group this year is comprised primarily of Air Force members, and one Marine, but has included members of the Army and Navy in the past. They hail from around the country: Todd is from Idaho, and there are service members from Kentucky, Las Vegas and a host of other places.

"We wanted to support the families affected by 9/11," said Brian Tollonen, who's from Wisconsin.

The marchers, who left the base that straddles Ocean and Burlington counties on Monday morning, rucked all day Monday and through the night. They went through Princeton, through Rutgers, through Metuchen and Rahway and Elizabeth. Once through the Lincoln Tunnel, they will go to Central Park and march down 5th Avenue, through Times Square, and the final 30 blocks or so to the memorial. They were expecting to arrive somewhere around 2 p.m., covering a total of 91.1 miles.

To contribute to the fundraiser, which had raised more than $8,000 as of Tuesday morning, click here.

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Photos courtesy of Jared Todd, published with permission