In honor of Memorial Day, the local Wear Blue chapter honors veterans killed in action.
And on this day, the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza hosted the annual "Wear Blue: Run to Remember" event.
Elizabeth Gerhart, the coordinator for the Wear Blue Reno-Sparks chapter, says, "Our whole mission is to honor the service and sacrifice of our American military. So we want everyone to take the moment in the morning to honor what Memorial Day is really about and honor those service members who have been killed in action."
The impact itself is far-reaching.
Organizers remind us that every active military member is the child of someone, possibly a sibling to others, and maybe a significant other, and those who have passed leave behind a group of people that loved them.
Gerhart tells us, "We have family members who have lost their sons, their daughters... and so it's just really important that we support the families too of the service members who have been killed, because they want to know their family members' sacrifice wasn't forgotten."
Wear Blue is a national campaign, but the Reno-Sparks chapter shined a light on those from our area that have been killed in action by speaking their names today.
Gerhart goes on to say, "We have the ability to live our lives the way that we do because people have given their lives for our freedoms."
Keith Kirby, a Wear Blue: Run to Remember participant, says, "We ran down here, carrying this flag, and this has become a tradition that I've done every year, and this flag now probably has close to 500 miles of running on it."
Participants run about 10 miles, starting in the South Reno area and running to the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza in Sparks.
Wear Blue believes that remembering that sacrifice shouldn’t just be one day of the year, but often.
If you weren’t able to make it today to do so, the Wear Blue chapter meets on the first Saturday of every month for what they call circles of remembrance.
For more information on circles, you can check out the Wear Blue website.
