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ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´â€™s Department of Public Safety and the Veteran and Military Center will honor the nation’s fallen heroes during a special program at 8 a.m. on Thursday, May 16.

ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´ will host representatives of Carry the Load, which honors first responders and U.S. military personnel who have died in the line of duty.

ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´ community members are invited to welcome the Carry the Load relay team and walkers with a clap-in at 8 a.m. at the Captain Sean L. English Champion Garden outside Allyn Hall and the Veteran and Military Center on ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´â€™s Dayton Campus.

As part of its Midwest Ruck to Remember tour, Carry The Load will march from Fairborn Fire Station 3 to the Champion Garden on May 16.

A brief program will follow before Carry The Load walkers depart for the Dayton National Cemetery.

organizes an annual national relay traveling 20,000 miles in all lower 48 states, culminating with a Memorial Day weekend march in Dallas. The relay is divided into five routes, with ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´ in the Midwest route.

The Captain Sean L. English Champion Garden celebrates those who support — or champion — veterans, including other veterans, family members, faculty, staff and those who work with them.

The garden is , a 1999 ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´ Army ROTC graduate who was killed in action in Iraq in 2006.

A bench in the garden memorializes Christopher Roche II, who worked in the Veteran and Military Center as a student and died in 2020. Roche majored in cyber security and served in the U.S. Navy before transferring to the Navy Reserves.

Carry The Load is a nonprofit organization that raises awareness of the meaning of Memorial Day and provides ways to honor and remember the sacrifices of military personnel, veterans, first responders and their families.