The mission of Run To Honor is to preserve and perpetuate the legacy of Naval Academy Alumni lost in service to our Nation during combat or military operations.

Run To Honor does this by connecting Gold Star Families, classmates and friends; memorializing our fallen brothers and sisters in Virtual Memorial Hall; and organizing memorial and athletic events.

2025 Events & Activities

In 2025, we are focusing our efforts on the following events & activities:

  1. Supporting the Alumni Association’s Honor Our Fallen Heroes event by assisting with planning, identification and outreach to Gold Star Families, and execution of various events over a weekend in the Fall.

  2. Identification of “lost” families of our fallen shipmates. The Naval Academy community owes so much to these families, but we do not have contact information for all of them.

  3. Expansion of our “Event in a Box” initiative to encourage alumni chapters, class organizations, and individuals to organize and host their own events around Memorial Day.

  4. Memorial Day reading of names: though Memorial Hall is currently closed for renovations, we will continue our annual reading of the names, ranks, and services of the 2,567 Naval Academy alumni whose services and sacrifices we honor.

We are eager for volunteers for any and all of these efforts! Several — particularly research on “lost” families — can be done with however much or little time you have.

Online, Run To Honor created and maintains the USNA Virtual Memorial Hall project, a website with over 4 million words and 6,400 photos that aims to make good our promise to never forget.

Joining Run To Honor is as simple as emailing us or following our Facebook group. Please sign up for our newsletter, too!

Memorial Day 2025

Information on participating in our 2025 events is below, but please visit myUSNA for the most up-to-date details. If you'd like to put together your own gathering, please keep reading!

East Coast

  • Annapolis, MD - May 26 @ 0800-0900: USNA Cemetery by LCDR Erik Kristensen grave site - Shannon Webb '04
  • Quantico, VA - May 26, time TBD: QAC RTH2025 5K race on Memorial day at the Quanticao Museum - Nancy Springer '87 and Ken Marr
  • Virginia Beach, VA - May 26 @ 0548: VA Beach at Neptune's Park - Steve Yoder '87
  • Charlotte, NC - May 26 @ 1030: Veterans Park in Plaza Midwood, Charlotte - Chris Nickels '91
  • Tampa, FL - May 26 @ 0740: Ballast Point - 1 mile or 5K walk/run with toasting to honor after - Steve Swift '87
  • Philadelphia, PA - May 26 @ 0800: Schuylkill River Trail at Walnut Street - Alex Freeman '14

Midwest

  • Columbus, OH - Saturday, May 24 @ 0900; East Granville Park (Route 161), one-mile walk; Worthington, OH - David Goins '84 and Sam Michaud (sister of Seth '98)

Southwest

  • Tulsa, OK - May 26 @ 0800: Owasso Island in Maple Ridge Neighborhood (26th & Owasso) - Alyssa Donovan Farrell
  • West Texas (Midland) - Saturday May 24 @ 0700: Starting at the residence of David Wayland (father of Patrick '10) at 7:00 - David Wayland

Pacific

Why do a Memorial Day To Honor Event?

  • To honor USNA alumni that have given their all in combat or military operations.
  • Camaraderie and having chapter/organization come together for a common purpose — helps bring out new members!
  • Overall health and fitness (assuming you do a walk/run)

Decision points

  1. What Memorial Day to Honor is for your Chapter

    • Who are you honoring?
    • What event would bring your chapter out?
    • What resources are needed to put on that event?
    • Who can plan, and who can execute?
    • In years past, Memorial Day to Honor has generally included a walk / run, giving each person the opportunity to say something about who they are honoring, perhaps a short program, and gathering around some drink. Every gathering has a different flare!

  2. If doing a walk / run, course and timeframe

    • Do you want to have your members do a set course together or virtual on their own? (Always recommend together; even a few people works!)
    • If together – need to determine a meeting point, preferrably with bathrooms nearby, as well as date and time
    • If virtual on own – need to determine timeframe (3 days over Memorial Day weekend?)

  3. Signup – Are you doing it on your own, or would you like to have the RTH Team help manage it. We can set up a group for you through myUSNA.com

  4. Gear – Run To Honor gear can be bought from our new vendor runtohonorgear.com. Get personalized shirts and a larger variety of gear, color, and sizes printed to order. Order typically need 2-3 weeks to order, print and ship.

  5. Costs – your participants pay for the shirts on their own, and only costs should be for any drinks (water, champagne, beer – for toasting!)

  6. Music - You could have Taps played (via phone/tape if nobody in person)

  7. Bibs – The Run to Honor template can be customized to a specific honoree or left blank for each person to write in their own name. Run to Honor will fund this. Typically bibs need 2-3 weeks lead time.

  8. Dog Tags - Dog tags can be customized for a chosen fallen hero or have the USNA crest – ($2.00 per dog tag with minimum order). Typically dog tags need 2-3 weeks lead time.

Questions: Contact Steve Swift ’87 or Shannon Webb '04.