THE UNFORGOTTEN, Run to Tahoma
Celebration of Life
Ceremony
Kitsap County Board of Commissioners, Kitsap County Coroner's Office, Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board and Combat Veterans International host The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma VIII Celebration of Life Ceremony on Memorial Day weekend. The event begins at the Kitsap County Administration Building, 614 Division Street, Port Orchard, WA 98366 at 9:45 a.m.
Join us in honoring with word and song the lives of departed veterans as we receive their remains from the county coroner and escort them to Tahoma National Cemetery. If you have any questions, contact Andrew Sargent at 360-337-4811 or asargent@co.kitsap.wa.us
Origins of The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma
In 2008, Mike
Carroll, a founding member of the Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board, read an
article about the abandoned remains of deceased veterans at a funeral home in
Missouri. Carroll contacted veterans advisory board staff to see if the Kitsap
County Coroner's Office had any unclaimed remains. The coroner had six
unclaimed veteran remains.
The weather was cold and rainy on October 2,
2008 when a small group of representatives from the Veterans Advisory Board,
Combat Veterans International, and Kitsap communities received the remains of
the six unclaimed veterans in the care of the county coroner and escorted them
to Tahoma National Cemetery for the first Run to Tahoma.
The next event
occurred on Saturday, Memorial Day Weekend in 2011, and became known as The
Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma II. At their June 2011 meeting, the Kitsap County
Veterans Advisory Board passed a motion that the ceremony would only occur when
there was at least one unclaimed veteran in the care of the county coroner.
Recording of the 2015 Run to Tahoma:
2015 Documentary