Run remembers late service members

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Madelyn Brown
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
Travis Air Force Base, Calif. --  From Sept. 20 to 22, 13 teams from Travis Air Force Base participated in the second California Run for the Fallen, a 150-mile commemoration run to each individual fallen California service member since 9/11.

The run began in Elk Grove and ended at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon.

At each mile along the route, fallen California service members were honored by the runners. The honors included the name and biography read aloud, an American flag placed at the designated mile mark, and a rendered salute. Runners would then continue to the next mile.

It was at mile marker 97 that Kevin Graves stood and waited for the runners to approach to commemorate his son.

Spc. Joseph Graves was killed in action by a modified rocket propelled grenade. He was inside of a humvee while completing his 365-deployment in Baghdad, Iraq with the 89th Military Police Brigade.

"From the age of 9 to the age of 18 when he flew to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., for basic training, we did everything together because I was a single parent," Kevin Graves said.
"We were very active in school, church and sports. I was fortunate to have all that time with him."

Prior to enlistment Specialist Graves spent many hours studying, training and working with the recruiter to further himself in his Army career, his dad said.

With dreams of becoming an FBI field agent, Specialist Graves fully dedicated himself to the path on which the Army would set him. His reenlistment papers were already drafted at the time he was killed.

Specialist Graves and his father shared a resounding father-son bond that kept them close even after the Soldier had moved away from home.

Three weeks prior to his deployment, Specialist Graves was able to be the best man in his father's wedding.

"He taught me how to be a father at the same time I taught him how to be a young man," Kevin Graves said.

Twenty-six hours before he would leave for Iraq, Specialist Graves called his father from Fort Hood, Texas and requested his presence before his departure.

"I was trying to parent him and tell him that he should have planned this out better because I'm all the way in California," Kevin said. "But immediately after that phone call I was on the computer looking up the fastest flight."

On the way to the Oakland airport, Kevin Graves answered his son's phone call and wrote down directions from the airport to the army installation on a yellow 2-inch by 2-inch sticky note. To this day, Kevin Graves carries around that sticky note with him at all times in his wallet, he said.

"I ended up arriving at 7:30 a.m. and I was able to meet some of the guys he was deploying with," Kevin Graves said. "We ended up having a great time before he left."

Eight months later, Kevin Graves received the news that Joey was killed in action.

"When you get that knock on the door, there's nothing that can prepare you," Kevin Graves said. "You turn completely reactive."

Kevin Graves' grief transformed into servitude when he realized there was a need to support families who experienced the same tragedy he had.

"I realized I could crawl into a hole, or I could embrace it and try to do something for other people," he said.

Today, Kevin Graves is an active community member and advocate for Gold Star families in addition to running the nonprofit organization dedicated to his son. He serves on the planning and advisory committee for the California Run for the Fallen and works for the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

"My healing comes from helping other people heal," he said.

In addition to Specialist Graves' commemoration flag at mile marker 97, more than 600 other service member commemoration flags were placed along the running route.

At the Sacramento Valley Cemetery, an additional 144 flags were placed in a field in order for every fallen California service member to be honored.

For more information about the California Run for the Fallen in 2014, visit www.carunforthefallen.org