Guard Members Create 150 Mile Stretch of Yellow Ribbons to Honor Mississippi Fallen Heroes

“This is specifically to honor our soldiers from Mississippi who lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Mississippi guardsmen are paying special tribute to fallen soldiers by running 150 miles in 13 days MPB's Lawayne Childrey reports.

Special Forces Sergeants John Carlisle and Patrick Bacon are running along hwy 80, from Vicksburg to the Alabama state line placing yellow ribbons along the route. Wednesday they were joined in Jackson by a small group of fellow guardsmen for what they call the "Mississippi Fallen Heroes Home Stretch." Carlisle says it's a labor of love for his many friends who didn't return home from their deployment.

“They were all great guys and they’ll be missed, and their families, they need to know that we miss em. Maybe not as much as they do cause that’s family but they were family to us to. This has nothing to do with fund raising or awareness, we want the family to know how we feel about everything.”

About 3500 Mississippi soldiers are currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan... away from their family and loved ones. While each one contributes time and talent to the mission, Special Forces Unit Sergeant Patrick Bacon believes there is no greater service than to give the ultimate sacrifice.

“And we don’t ever want that to be mistaken for something small. We don’t want the people to take that for granted. Because our fallen soldiers paid the ultimate price. The military is often times looked at as a bunch of numbers No we’re a big family and we want the family to know they are still part of what we do.”

The soldiers will run 15 miles a day posting yellow ribbons in cities along the way, in honor of 27 Mississippi heroes. The effort will culminate at the Alabama state line on a day that has significant meaning to us all.

“This is specifically to honor our soldiers from Mississippi who lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq which September sparked that so we wanted to end on that day to kinda tie it all in together.”

A final memorial will be held on that day as part of the tribute. For MPB news, I'm Lawayne Childrey.