Photo By Bernhard Lashleyleidner | Spc. Meaghan Ilimaleota, a combat medic with Company C, 101st BSB, 1st ABCT, 1st Inf....... read more read more
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CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait – Soldiers from 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and Morale, Welfare and Recreation co-sponsor a Martin Luther King Jr. day observance Jan. 19.
More than 300 Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, Marines and civilians braved the frigid weather to participate in the first half marathon in honor of the civil rights leader and his legacy.
Spc. Meaghan Ilimaleota, a combat medic with Company C, 101st Brigade Support Battalion, and a native of Iola, Kansas, said this was the first time she had ever participated in a half marathon and was proud of herself for being the third female to cross the finish line. The medic finished with a time of one hour and 55 minutes.
“Being able to participate in this event on Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is a very big deal for me,” Ilimaleota said. “Because of Dr. King’s fight for equal rights for everyone, my son and others have the same rights as everyone else regardless of his race.”
Hours after the last runners crossed the finish line, more than 150 Soldiers and civilians with unit guideons, signs and King banners began a quarter-mile march to the MWR Oasis stage while chanting.
“We wanted to recreate the march on Washington, D.C., that took place more than 51 years ago,” Sgt. 1st Class Monique Lankford, equal opportunity advisor, 1st Inf. Div., said. “Many Soldiers don’t know how important this one event was to the civil right movement.”
On Aug. 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of protestors participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which culminated in King delivering his “I Have a Dream” speech while standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The march aided in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and stands as a turning point in the civil rights movement, according to “The March on Washington and its Impact” from PBS NewsHour Extra.
Lankford, a native of Georgetown, South Carolina, said the Soldiers looked at current events in the United States and felt this would be the perfect event to unite and educate service members and civilians about the civil rights struggle and about King’s vision.
“It was an honor to be a part of this remembrance celebration,” Lankford said. “The march was bigger than what we expected.”
Lankford said she was shocked to see Soldiers and civilians get out of their vehicles to take pictures and cheer as they marched past.
The observance featured Soldiers from the brigade and the division reading excerpts from three of King’s famous speeches, a musical tribute and the announcement of the winner of an art contest.
The keynote address was given by Command Sgt. Maj. Demetrius Brown, senior noncommissioned officer, Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Inf. Div., who thanked the ”Big Red One” rock band for their moving rendition of songs they were key in telling the story during the civil rights movement.
Brown, a native of Magnolia, Mississippi, told the audience that King was a Baptist minister and social activist whose nonviolence stance played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid 1950s until his assassination in 1968.
“Today is a big day for our military and the nation,” Brown said. “Looking around, you can see Dr. King’s dream of racial, gender and economic equality here in our military.”
Brown also said if King was alive today, he would be proud of how the military has led the way in pushing his dream of equality forward.
“This was one of the best MLK observances I’ve attended in a very long time,” Brown said. “The equality opportunity advisors from 1st ABCT and 1st Inf. Div. should be commended for all their hard work in putting this amazing event together.”
| Date Taken: | 01.19.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.30.2015 00:56 |
| Story ID: | 153104 |
| Location: | CAMP BUEHRING, KW |
| Hometown: | GUAM, GU |
| Hometown: | CHICAGO, IL, US |
| Hometown: | GEORGETOWN, SC, US |
| Hometown: | IOLA, KS, US |
| Hometown: | MAGNOLIA, MS, US |
| Web Views: | 90 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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