Published: July 17, 2008 11:55 pm         

Run for the Fallen participants stop at every mile, remember a soldier killed in Iraq

After a long run Thursday along Oklahoma 11, Jon Bellona looked forward to a soak in the tub.

But, Bel-lona isn’t running for exercise. He’s running with a purpose: to honor American service members who have died during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Bellona, of Clinton, N.Y., organized Run for the Fallen, which started June 14 outside Fort Irwin, Calif., and will end Aug. 24 at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C.

Each of the 4,118 miles will be dedicated to a service member who died in Iraq.

It started with Bel-lona’s college roommate, Mike Cleary. Cleary joined the Army after graduation from Hamilton College and was a first lieutenant in the 31st Engineers when he was killed in Iraq Dec. 20, 2005.

“I remember sitting on the couch with Mike watching television on Sept. 11. That’s the reason he joined,” Bellona said, of the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York City.

Thursday, the runners went through part of northwest Oklahoma, from Hopeton to Medford. Today, they will run from Medford to Wichita, Kan. They came into the state Tuesday, running from Follett, Texas, to Woodward.

Every mile, runners stop and place an American flag and placard telling a little about a service member. The placards were made by school students who volunteered, Bellona said.

“I wanted to do something to honor Mike, and I came up with a run across America, one mile for every service member,” he said.

He started with one van and three people and now has eight to 10 people, a van and four cars. They cover about 60 miles a day, splitting the running. He said everyone in the group knows he or she is running a memorial run. They are non-political and only want to honor and remember America’s service members.

Starting from outside Fort Irwin, an Army training center, they ran west to the Pacific Ocean then headed east. Oklahoma is the seventh state they have crossed so far, and when they finish Aug. 24 they will have placed memorial placards for 4,118 service members, 75 from Oklahoma.

They spent Thursday night in Enid at Best Western, which donated rooms for the runners.

Bellona and his group like to start by 6:30 a.m. each day and finish their run by mid-day to avoid the heat of the afternoon.

“I think Mike would be proud, I honestly believe that,” he said.

Bellona recalled a project he completed on the Vietnam War while in college with Cleary’s help. Cleary told him later he was proud of that project.

“I’m doing this because I believe he would be proud of it,” Bellona said.