Two brothers, both avid runners and former Marines, wanted to do something extra
on Memorial Day, May 25. They actually started planning on last year's holiday.
They decided to carry flags as they participated in Huntsville's 30th annual Cotton Row Run.
"We're never going to win it, so we wanted to do something to just kind of help remind people what Memorial Day is all about," Nick Kuzy said.
Nick, 46, of Huntsville, carried the Marine Corps flag and wore a kilt with the official Marine tartan. His brother Mike, 40, of Carrollton, Ga., carried the American flag.
They jogged together in the 10K, 5K and one-mile fun run. A woman runner they met at the race volunteered to carry the POW flag in the 5K.
Nick retired from the Marine Corps as a gunnery sergeant in October 2007. He was last assigned with the 200th Regiment, a National Guard unit out of Anniston. He's now an administrative manager for LifeCare of Alabama, an ambulance service in Morgan County. Mike was a Marine sergeant who's now a process specialist for Printpack, which manufactures flexible packaging.
All six of the Kuzy brothers are former or retired Marines. "We all joined in the early '80s," Nick said.
He and Mike are marathoners who like running shorter races for fun. They have run at least 10 Cotton Rows, but this is the first time they carried flags. They plan to make that a tradition. The woman who carried the POW flag in the 5K is the wife of a Soldier. She said she'd meet them at next year's Cotton Row with the Army flag.
"We're looking for as many flag carriers as we can find," Nick said.
He expressed what Memorial Day means to him.
"It's a time for us, now particularly that we're at war, to remember the sacrifices that people are making for everybody here at home," he said. "And the sacrifices they made in the past also."
Mike suggested to Nick the idea of carrying flags at Cotton Row during last year's run. Mike had seen a runner carrying the American flag, accompanied by another runner with the Marine Corps flag, during the Marine Corps Marathon in 2003. It was Mike's first marathon.
Mike would like to get enough runners volunteering to represent every branch of service along with the American flag and POW flag.
"I'm getting too old to run for time," he said. "For 10Ks I would just rather get five or six people out there and let's just have a good nice run and try to remind people what Memorial Day is all about."
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