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Marseilles Freedom Run honors nine fallen service members · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Marseille Freedom Run honors nine fallen service members. Written by
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  Matthias Werner. This article is being read by an automated
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  voice brought to you by Everlett. More than four hundred
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  motorcycles arrived just before noon on Saturday, June twentieth in
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  downtown Marseilles, driving under an American flag to honor nine
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  fallen heroes of the US Armed Forces. Spectators line the
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  sides of Rutland Street to welcome them in from the
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  Grundy County Fairgrounds in Morris and usher them towards the
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  Middle East Conflicts Wall for the twenty third annual Honor
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  and Remembrance ceremony. Today is not simply about motorcycles. It's
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  not simply about a ride. It's not even simply about
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  a ceremony. Master of Ceremonies Mike Kasey said, today is
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  a day of remembrance. Today is a day about gratitude.
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  Today is about honoring heroes who answer to call greater
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  than themselves and paid a price that most of us
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  can't truly understand. The Middle East Conflicts Wall was erected
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  in two thousand and four with five panels to commemorate
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  the ultimate sacrifice of three thousand servicemen and servicewomen who
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  had been killed in conflicts around the world since nineteen
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  sixty seven. These were ordinary people who chose to do
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  something extraordinary by serving our country, Kasey said. While history
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  may remember them as service members, their families remember them
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  for the moments that had seemed ordinary at the time
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  but became priceless when they were gone. Charles Zapp, who
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  lost his nephew TJ in twenty twenty four in Afghanistan,
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  was present at the ceremony and became emotional recalling why
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  he attended the Honor and Remembrance ceremony. There isn't a
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  day that goes by that we don't think about him
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  all the time, Zapp said, I come to this wall
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  every month just to say hello to him, and that's
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  all peace of mind I've got. Since its inception, more
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  names and pays have been added each year, with the
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  nine new additions bringing the total to eight thy forty one.
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  We're thankful for the men and women of bravery like
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  these who have been willing to give their lives for
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  the peace of the world and the freedom we enjoy
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  right here today. Bishop Ronnie White, an Air Force veteran said,
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  impress upon all of us the importance of the sacrificial
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  giving of ourselves in service to God, our country, and
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  our fellow man. The fallen service members added to the
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  Middle East Conflicts Wall in twenty twenty six are Sergeant
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  William N. Howard, Sergeant Edgar B. Torres Toverer, Captain Cody A. Cork,
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  Sergeant first Class Noah L. Techins, Sergeant Declan J. Cody,
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  Chief Warrant Officer IIIE Robert M. Marzan, Major Jeffrey R. O'Brien,
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  Sergeant first Class Nicole M. Moore, Staff Sergeant Bennat jamon N. Pennington.
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  While today we honor those who need the ultimate sacrifice,
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  let us also remember those who continue walking amongst us,
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  Kazy said, many of them carry burdens that cannot be
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  seen in scars that are invisible to the eye. A
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  salute to the walls panels by the Canaryville Veterans Association,
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  the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, the Triple Bravo Initiative, and
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  Vietnam Vets Legacy Veterans opened the official proceedings, followed by
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  a twenty one gun volley and playing of taps from
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  American Legion Post thirty three