About 400 people walked in the Carry the Load Memorial Day event that started Sunday at 4 p.m. — about 90 of them, including the pictured 78-year-old Mary Miller, continued circling White Rock Lake through the night and into Monday afternoon. By the time they finished it was a sunny 85 degrees and the participants looked cooked, but satisfied.
It was bittersweet as organizers and walkers remembered fallen veterans, police and firefighters. Clint Bruce thought up the event as a symbolic gesture to honor friends he had lost. “I can’t separate Memorial Day from the memory of all the buddies I’ll never be able to call again,” he has said.
Organizers say they hope this walk round-and-round White Rock Lake’s 9.2-mile loop will be the beginning of a new tradition and a new way of thinking.
We need to partner with visionaries like you to change the way we honor the people who make sacrifices and serve our country and community. Your generosity will begin to change the way Americans observe Memorial Day and honor the members of the military, law enforcement officers and firefighters who have died or were wounded while carrying the load for their country and communities, and begin a new tradition for future generations.
Participants remembered fallen friends and family.
Boy Scout Troop 496 from McKinney, TX supported the effort, manning water stops and camping overnight at (where else?) White Rock Lake’s Boy Scout Hill. They led the closing ceremonies.
Even my 13-year-old daughter, Morgan, was moved by the event. She said she wanted to walk in it next year, and said as much to District 9 Councilman Sheffie Kadane, who stood near us at the ceremony, and he promised to hold her to it.
