WASHINGTON – If you are at the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, you might want to cheer on the TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors) Run and Remember Team.
You’ll know the team members by the shirts they’re wearing – each has a picture of a fallen military member, in whose memory they are running, on the back.
The Taps Run and Remember Team has been running in the Marine Corps Marathon for more than 12 years.
“And we actually began with a team of only two runners which were two widows,” says Ami Neiberger-Miller, a TAPS spokeswoman.
Marie Campbell was one of the founding widows. She lost her husband in 1996 when terrorists bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. Campbell is still the TAPS team director for the marathon.
Neiberger-Miller says this year’s team has raised $175,000 to benefits the non-profit organization TAPS, which in turn supports grieving families that have lost a military loved one.
“Lots of supports coming together to run and honor a service member who gave their life for our country,” she says, and she is urging people this weekend “to encourage our runners and cheer for them.”
Neiberger-Miller lost her brother, U.S. Army Specialist Christopher Neiberger, who was killed in Iraq in August 2007. She says her mother will be running the 10k to honor the memory of her fallen brother.
Follow @WTOP on Twitter.
