Photo By Bill Coppernoll | Fort McCoy, Wis., personnel raise a flag Nov. 11, 2020, at the Veterans Affairs...... read more read more
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A multiservice, multiunit team of 11 runners held a special 11.46-mile Veterans Day Run on Nov. 11 from Fort McCoy to the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Tomah, Wis.
“This Veterans Day run was to honor veterans and Tomah VA staff,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Mantha, Fort McCoy Garrison command sergeant major. “The entire event was to show a small appreciation through our sacrifice to our respected veterans and those who continue to serve them.”
The run began at approximately 9 a.m. Nov. 11 at the garrison headquarters, building 100, at the garrison flagpole. There, team members raised and lowered a U.S. flag and then formed up in two elements and began running the 11.46 miles from that location to Tomah. For a couple miles, a second group of runners from the 181st Multi-Functional Training Brigade joined the other 11 runners.
The team comprised both Army and Navy service members, including Lt. Col. Tony Steinhoff, Mission Installation Contracting Command-Fort McCoy and 88th Readiness Division; Fort McCoy Deputy Garrison Commander Lt. Col. Alexander Carter; Mantha; Senior Chief Petty Officer Przemek Krysinski, U.S. Navy; Master Sgt. Donna Vance, Fort McCoy Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA); Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Parks, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, U.S. Army Garrison Fort McCoy; Sgt. 1st Class Angel Powell, Wisconsin Military Academy; Staff Sgt. Orlando BurgosFebus, Fort McCoy NCOA; Petty Officer 2nd Class Raymond Insley, U.S. Navy; Staff Sgt. Javier Perez Lopez, Fort McCoy NCOA; and Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony Pittman, U.S. Navy.
All of the Sailors who participated are with the Navy Recruit Training Command’s (RTC) Restriction-of-Movement (ROM) mission that’s currently ongoing at Fort McCoy.
The running route included going out of Fort McCoy’s Main Gate, then down State Highway 21 to Tomah. The team of runners was escorted by officers and squad cars with the Monroe County (Wis.) Sheriff Department and the Tomah Police Department.
In a Facebook post by the Tomah Police Department, it stated they were glad to be a part of the event.
“It was a privilege to play a small role in honoring our veterans,” the post states. “The Tomah community is great, and it was nice to see the support for this group of runners who carried our nation’s colors from Fort McCoy to the Tomah VA campus. We thank Fort McCoy for capturing this moment and sharing it with the area communities.”
Once the running team made it to the Tomah VA Medical Center, they raised the flag once again on the center’s main flagpole. After they raised the flag, Dr. Staci Williams, assistant director of the Tomah VA Medical Center, provided a few words about the day. The whole run took approximately two hours, and they arrived at approximately 11 a.m., which coincides with the history of Veterans Day.
In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I, according to the history of Veterans Day at history.com.
More than 116,000 Americans died in World War I defending the lives and freedom of the United States’ European allies.
The following year, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration to honor the Soldiers who fought in that war, and the day was originally known as Armistice Day.
Nov. 11 became a federal holiday in 1938, and in 1954 Congress decided to change the day to Veteran’s Day. This was because they wanted to honor the veterans of all wars including World War II and the Korean War.
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin. Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
| Date Taken: | 11.19.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 11.19.2020 11:09 |
| Story ID: | 383357 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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