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An Open Letter to Organizations Serving Military and Veteran Families:

Beginning April 7, 2018, Honor and Remember is launching a national tribute — America’s Run for the Fallen — that will allow us to honor every fallen military service member who died while serving during the War on Terror. Rotating teams of dedicated runners, both military and civilian, will traverse more than 6,000 miles over five months, stopping every mile where a marker will be placed and ceremoniously calling out loud the names of individual fallen military members. Running through 19 states, they will name every fallen hero who has died as the result of service since the attack on the USS Cole in 2000.

America’s Run for the Fallen will be the most comprehensive apolitical individual fallen service member tribute ever organized in this manner, honoring nearly 20,000 names, regardless of circumstances of death. We need your help!

We know that every organization has its own mission and purpose and that most of the time a request for partnership may seem to be a conflict of interest. However, we do have one commonality — to focus on serving the community of fallen hero families. I am asking that we join together in raising the conscious of America by remembering everyone collectively. This event is much bigger than one organization, yet there are ways to make segments of the run organization specific. Every family in America needs to know their loved one is being specifically and publicly acknowledged. Please consider uniting with us on this historic tribute mission! 

Regardless of whether your organization is open to partnering with us, I’m asking for your assistance in one particular way. Awareness. On our website www.runforthefallen.org there is a button labeled "Find a Hero." Clicking on this button enables you to search for any hero by date or name. If that loved one's name is listed, the state, mile and date of our arrival will appear on a map. If the name does not appear, the loved one can be added at http://heroes.runforthefallen.org/.

It is important that every family who has lost a loved one in service to America has the opportunity to find their hero on the route. We do not want anyone left off of this tribute, so getting the word out is critical. Social media alone is not comprehensive.  We need to include other vehicles like newsletters, magazines, email, etc. Many families are already making travel plans to be at their fallen hero’s marker.

We want every organization who is connected to veterans or fallen military to be aware of this event and to participate at any level. We need help organizing, finding runners, performing daily ceremonies, communicating with families and much more. This is a national event whose sole purpose is paying individual and collective tribute to every hero. It will gather major momentum as it progresses and should stir the patriotism of every American.

Our Tribute Trail begins at Fort Irwin, CA, on April 7th and ends on August 5th at Arlington National Cemetery. Will you help share this message through your network — whether it’s though your magazines, newsletters, emails, postcards, social network or other communication? I welcome the opportunity to share more if needed. This link will help fill in many of the details: https://www.runforthefallen.org/faq/

Let’s join together in a comprehensive collaboration that brings remembrance to every grieving family.

Respectfully,
George Lutz
Father. CPL George A. Lutz II ~ 29 Dec 2005 ~ Iraq

PS: If you are a member of any military or veterans organization, please pass this along so that none of our fallen heroes are neglected.