From Iraq to Mobile: Veterans renew Memorial Day relay run tradition

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Veterans on Monday renewed a solemn Memorial Day tradition, taking turns carrying flags through the city to pay their respects to fallen comrades.

Dozens of folks participated, making their way through Mobile from the Coast Guard Training Center the USS Alabama Battleship, for an emotional ceremony honoring those that paid the ultimate sacrifice.

“It’s just, for me, to give back and reflect on what today actually means,” said Michael Garner, who participated in his first relay event Monday. “Memorial Day is for those that are fallen and gone before us. And as a veteran – I’m 24-year active-duty veteran – it’s special to me to be able to honor those and what this date actually represents.”

The first one of these actually took place at U.S. military base in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2005. Soldiers fighting the Iraq war were confined to the camp, running around the base in 15-minute shifts. Since then, flag relays have taken place at various locations along the Gulf Coast.

Participants carried the U.S. flag and the flag for prisoners of war and those missing in action. When they made it to the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, they made several stops before the final trek up the ramp and onto the ship.

Jason Myrick retired to the Gulf Coast about eight months ago, after a military career that included stints in both the Army and the Air Force. On Monday, he was a “safety” runner, ready to pick up a flag if someone had trouble finishing his leg.

“That last leg started right before the Bankhead Tunnel,” he told FOX10 News. “We ran through the tunnel, came up on the Causeway and then ran in here in the Battleship Memorial, came and touched a couple of the flags, then ran up here on the battleship.”

Daniel Guiffreda, a veteran of both the U.S. Marine Corps and the Air Force who now serves in the Air National Guard, said he participated in that first relay in Iraq 20 years ago and has done it four or five times since.

“It was good seeing guys that are already retired, guys that are still in, and even the youngest guys that just got in,” he said. “So a lot of camaraderie, a lot of memories there, even now, as they share in the circles, their stories. A lot of healing, I think, that takes place from that.”