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SILVER LAKE — A large crowd had already gathered in Silver Lake by 7:30 a.m. Friday, June 22, to welcome a relay team participating in the Run for the Fallen event. The team was scheduled to arrive in Silver Lake sometime between 8 – 8:30 a.m. 

On April 7, 2018, Honor and Remember Inc. launched America’s Run for the Fallen, a fallen military tribute event. A rotating team of more than 400 active duty military and civilian members across the nation are participating in a 19 state, 6,100 mile journey to honor all fallen service members, numbering nearly 20,000. 

The event began at Fort Irwin, Calif. with a starting ceremony for the five month, 6,000 mile mission through California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, and will finish at Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday, Aug. 5. 

Covering approximately 50 miles daily, the goal of Run for the Fallen is to blaze a memorial trail across America, recognizing every service member who died as a result of serving in the armed forces. A relay team stopped at the main intersection in Silver Lake.

Each mile of the run is dedicated to individual heroes and their families, based on the chronological date of their death. Carrying a full-size American flag, an Honor and Remember flag and an Honor and Sacrifice flag, along wth hero information, each relay team stops at one mile intervals where a pre-staked marker is placed. They then call a name out loud and deliver a short tribute.

Silver Lake residents lined both sides of the streets downtown, most holding flags. Wabash Valley Manufacturing, located at 505 E. Main St., Silver Lake, shut down production for the morning in order to give employees the opportunity to hold flags and welcome the relay team as they passed through town. 

A large flag was temporarily placed over the downtown area. Personnel from the Silver Lake Fire Department, Silver Lake Police Department, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Department and North Manchester Fire Department were on scene.