BOSTON - On Saturday, May 4, the runners victoriously stepped on home base at Boston’s hallowed Fenway Park. Rather than pro baseball players scoring, however, these were Navy officers supporting a cause even bigger than a Red Sox win.
Navy Capt. Frank Sarra, Defense Contract Management Agency Boston commander, and Navy Lt. Juan “Carlos” Sanchez, contract specialist, were finishing the fourth annual Red Sox Foundation “Run to Home Base.” The nine kilometer run raises awareness and money for the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital’s work with veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan with combat stress and traumatic brain injuries.
“The ‘Run to Home Base’ was a win-win scenario allowing me to experience Fenway Park in a unique manner while at the same time providing a direct benefit to my shipmates coping with the wounds of war,” said Sarra.
The run was especially meaningful for him, as it was a significant milestone in his personal recovery from open heart surgery just ten months prior. It was also thrilling for him as a Boston native.
“It was truly an inspirational example of the American dream realized to hear the featured speaker Marine Gen. John F. Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command, tell us about the bravery of Marines under fire at a roadside checkpoint in Iraq,” Sarra said. “The general recalled how he used to sneak into Fenway as a young boy and his mother operated a concession stand. Today, he is a commander of a Major Combatant Command – only in America.”
“The event was truly an amazing and worthwhile experience,” added Sanchez. “It was for a noble cause and all of the participants were enthusiastically into it. Not to mention the beautiful and picturesque scenery that the course took us through.”
Fenway Park is the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball, and has been home to the Boston Red Sox since the stadium opened in 1912.
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