Guard to honor fallen soldiers with marathon tribute march

It has been more than a year since Lori Jones’ husband, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Jones, died just days after returning from Iraq, but she said she’s not surprised the Maine National Guard still finds ways to honor him.

About 115 Guard soldiers and airmen have signed up to participate in the Maine Marathon Tribute March to be held during the Maine Marathon in Portland on Sunday.

The Guard participants will walk the marathon route in uniform while carrying 30-pound military backpacks adorned with memorabilia honoring the seven Maine soldiers who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war on March 20, 2003.

Lori Jones, 44, of Unity said she will walk the final two miles with the group, some of whom will be wearing pins with her husband’s photo and ribbons with the number seven to remember the fallen soldiers.

“My husband took great pride in his military career and I know he would be proud and honored by this,” Jones said.

While perusing a National Guard magazine, Capt. Grant Delaware of the Army Guard read about two Rhode Island Guardsmen who “ruckmarched” the Boston Marathon, and his initial reaction was “if two guys from Rhode Island can do that, we can,” he said. A ruckmarch involves walking or marching while carrying a “rucksack,” or backpack.

The next day, the Maine Marathon Tribute March was born.

“I really thought we’d get 10 to 20 participants at the most, but we have almost 120 at this time,” Delaware said, adding they hope to have every unit of the Guard represented in the event.

He said about 24 Guard members will walk the entire route in uniform, boots and pack, while the others will walk legs of the course, which range from five to eight miles. The participants will begin their day at 4 a.m. in Portland and start walking at 6, hoping to finish the course by 2 p.m.

All Guard participants, families and the families of the seven soldiers aim to cross the finish line in unison to honor the fallen soldiers.

Sgt. Tenney Noyes, 24, of Canaan will be walking Sunday to honor all of his fellow soldiers, but said he will be wearing the photo pin of Jones, who was his platoon sergeant in the 133rd Engineer Battalion Company A. Jones died from complications of surgery he had days after returning from his nearly yearlong deployment to Iraq.

“This definitely hits close to home because I knew [Jones] quite well, and I’m doing this to honor him and my friends that are over there now, and the ones getting ready to go,” Noyes said.

Noyes’ tribute to Jones and the other soldiers touched Margaret “Peggy” Jones, Michael Jones’ mother.

Michael “thought the world of them,” she said. The Guardsmen “were a second family to him, and I think it’s very nice of this gentleman [Noyes] to do this for my son.”

Although Delaware said he did not know some of the seven soldiers who died, he still felt a strong desire to coordinate the tribute march.

“I don’t need to know these guys in order to know these are my brothers,” he said.