By Taylor Boyd
The third annual All Vets Memorial Ruck is scheduled for Saturday, May 23, at Jack Dalton Park.
Event coordinator Careen Rodgers said the event will run from 6 a.m. to about 2 p.m. and will include more than 50 participants completing a roughly 20-mile route across Henry County and the city of Martinsville.
“It will be about 50-plus individuals who will be doing about 20 miles across Henry County and the City of Martinsville,” Rodgers said. “We are going to start and stop at Jack Dalton Park, so our team will step off about 6 in the morning and will be making our way back after doing the 20 miles.”
The Henry County Sheriff’s Office will escort participants.
After the march concludes, Rodgers said the community is invited to take a lap around the park trail as a walk of remembrance. A 45- to 60-minute storytelling program will follow under the park shelter, featuring reflections on deceased veterans and the significance of the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action table. Retired U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Mark Boniface will also speak on the importance of Memorial Day.
Rodgers said participation has grown steadily since the first ruck in 2024.
When All Vets held its first Memorial Ruck in 2024, she estimated about 12 people participated. Last year, the team had 25 people; this year, there are over 50.
All Vets is a nonprofit organization made up of active-duty military members, veterans, military families, and patriotic citizens.
“Sometimes we lose track of the purpose of Memorial Day, and so our goal and our mission is to bring that back,” Rodgers said. “All Vets has a mission to honor the fallen and strengthen the living, and so this event is the epitome of what our mission is.”
Rodgers said the event has resonated with the community.
“It gives them something tangible to say that they, too, are honoring fallen military,” she said. “I think it’s been well-received.”
Each participant will carry flags in their rucksacks, including American flags, service branch flags, and POW/MIA flags. Rodgers said each flag represents a fallen service member.
“Each flag is representative of a fallen military member, or military person, who’s passed away,” she said. “We’re actually carrying a lot of weight because each flag symbolizes a person who served our country.”
Participants will carry about 10 to 15 flags each, she said.
“So we’re symbolically carrying that person’s weight with us across the county and the city,” Rodgers said.
The event also serves as a fundraiser. Flags carried during the ruck are available for purchase for $10, Rodgers said.
“If you want us to carry the memory of your fallen military member with us, we encourage people to buy a flag,” she said. “We carry that in our packs across the route, then at the end of the presentation, they can actually take that flag home.”
Proceeds support local veteran programs, including gym memberships, monthly walks, card outreach, and memorial projects.
“We do monthly walks with our veterans, we have a salute and send card program where we send various greeting cards throughout the year to hundreds of veterans across our area,” Rodgers said.
For more information or to purchase flags, visit www.all-vets.com, Facebook.com/AllVetsVirginia, or Facebook.com/AllVetsMemorialRuck2026.
