Memorial Run For Slain Soldier Raises $23K

Memorial Run For Slain Soldier Raises $23K
Army Times.com
The afternoon 477 people showed up to run 10 miles in memory of Capt. Chris Cash, gray skies threatened to make it a soggy slog.
But it never ended up raining, and organizers were pleased that as the day came to a close, they had raised more than $23,000 for the Capt. Christopher S. Cash Memorial Scholarship fund at North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, N.C. The fallen infantryman earned his undergraduate degree in physical education from the college.
The third annual “Reindeer Dash for Cash” charity race took place Dec. 2 at the Town Commons in Greenville.
The North Carolina National Guard topped the list of more than 40 sponsors, and at least 85 soldiers, including 25 from the 514th Military Police Company, donated their time off to help with the event.
“It’s a great honor to be able to come out and participate in something for someone who made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Sgt. Errick Morris of the North Carolina National Guard Recruiting and Retention Command, who volunteered his time on a Sunday “because Captain Cash was a member of the North Carolina National Guard and so am I.”
Cash, 36, was killed in battle June 24, 2004, in Baqubah, Iraq. He was commander of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, the day he and one of his soldiers, Spc. Daniel Desens, died in an ambush by more than 150 fighters.
The enemy had infiltrated and set up firing positions overnight as part of a coordinated multi-city attack that claimed many lives all over the country.
Cash and Desens would become the only U.S. Service members killed in eight hours of violence in the city 35 miles north of Baghdad. Six U.S. Soldiers were wounded in the same battle.
The Dash for Cash events, a 5-kilometer run/walk and 10-mile run, drew 100 people more than last year and 300 more than the first race in 2005.
A sister run took place at 6 a.m. At Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baqubah, where Cash was stationed during part of his company’s deployment to Iraq.
Lt. Col. Steve Delvaux, ROTC battalion commander at Eastern Carolina University in Greenville, lead a team of eight students known as “Team No Mercy.”
“When you get out there and start feeling sorry for yourself I just think of Captain Cash as representative of all the soldiers we serve with and those who didn’t make it back,” said Delvaux, who spent the last four years with 3rd Brigade Combat Team “Rakkasans,” 101st Airborne Division, including two rotations in Iraq.
“It’s guys like Captain Cash who make our way of life and these kinds of things possible,” he said of the race.