Founder of the Marine Raider Memorial March, Nathan Harris, hugs Leadership Santa Rosa Class 29 member Michele Tucker after receiving a memorial flag he promised to take with him on a 770-mile trek from Navarre to Camp Lejeune, N.C. (Photo by Mat Pellegrino | South Santa Rosa News)
Last Friday morning was a big day for Nathan Harris.
The founder of the Marine Raider Memorial March was about to embark on a 770-mile journey from Navarre to Camp Lejeune, NC.
But before he could leave with his 14 ruckers and 11 support team members, he made sure to take a piece of history with him.
At Friday’s Leadership Santa Rosa Class 29 ceremony in Navarre Park, Santa Rosa County Emergency Management Operation Chief Tom Lloyd presented Harris with a flag.
That flag flew above the “98 command” stationed at the corner of U.S. Highway 98 and Navarre Beach causeway in Navarre during the recovery efforts of the Blackhawk Helicopter crash last year. A crash that claimed the lives of 11 servicemen.
“During the second day of the recovery operations we decided we needed to get some flags up,” Lloyd said. “The first flag flew above the 98 command center for several hours and was taken down.”
The next flag, a United States flag, was flown immediately after.
“As we were taking the second one down, the personnel with the Air Force rendered full honors, and we folded it up,” Lloyd said.
After taking the flag down, Lloyd asked every first response agency from the county who assisted in the search and rescue efforts to supply him with a patch from their agency. Those patches were tucked inside of the folded flag at Friday’s ceremony.
The EOC Chief said he decided to present the flag to Harris at the start of the ruck march last Friday. And when he did, the response from Harris was overwhelming.
With tears running down his face, Harris thanked the family members gathered whose relatives made the ultimate sacrifice back on March 10, 2015 when they perished in the helicopter training exercise in the sound in Navarre.
An emotional Harris accepts the flag during Friday’s ceremony in Navarre Park. (Photo by Mat Pellegrino | South Santa Rosa News)
Emotionally distraught, the leader took the flag and made an emotional round of hugs to those gathered. One of the longest hugs was to Leadership Santa Rosa Class 29 member Michele Tucker.
“This is going with us every step of the journey,” he said.
After a long embrace, he made the short trek to his backpack he would carry with him throughout the 11-day journey and put it in the front pocket.
And that’s where it would remain over the next week and a half as his crew marches to Camp Lejeune.
Another piece of history the ruckers took with them on their memorial march was a paddle.
That paddle was covered in the dog tags of the 7 Marines and 4 National Guardsman in Mojo 69 who perished in the training exercise.
It was one of the few items found fully intact from the crash.
Both the U.S. flag and the paddle will remain at Camp Lejeune following the completion of the ruck march, where they will be placed on a Wall of Remembrance.
Before his departure with his ruckers, Harris stood atop the concrete of the soon-to-be completed Blackhawk Memorial and did 25 pushups in remembrance of the fallen men.
Then, the group strapped on their backpacks and headed east down U.S. Highway 98.
