22 mile march to raise awareness for Veterans

Instead of staying warm in bed Sunday morning, two young men embarked on a 22 mile march to raise awareness for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Richard Pope, founder of Operation Yellow Spear, and his colleague Jeremy Dulis walked 22.22 miles from Millsboro, Del. to Seaford, Del., where a rally was held this afternoon.

Their organization aims to raise awareness for veteran’s suffering from PTSD.

The distance they marched, has a special significance to that, as an average of 22 veterans die by suicide daily, according to the American Foundation for suicide prevention.

Pope and Dulis started their walk at 6 a.m. We caught up with them later.

“My goal is to allow people to see what we’re trying to do, to motivate them to get out there and try to help veterans who are dealing with suicide,” Dulis said.

“You know to see two younger people and honestly the whole team we’re all young, so hands on, working so hard I feel like it can be a great inspiration to people our age,” Pope said.

Pope added that in addition to raising awareness , the two were also walking in remembrance of yellow spear supporter Marlene VanVliet, who passed away from pancreatic cancer two weeks ago.