Rolling Remembrance makes a stop with the Washington Redskins at FedExField
It all started with one flag from Pepsico.
A Pepsico employee wanted to come up with a way to support his brother deployed overseas — so he sent a soda, snacks and a flag.
"His brother's platoon took a picture with that flag on their last mission and then sent it back to Pepsico," said Mark Schwarz, director of logistics strategy at Pepsico. But the company didn't want its military support to end with just one service member.
"When my dad died I didn't know what I was going to do — how was I going to get through without my support system here," said Kylie Owen, daughter of Sgt. Kirk Owen, who died on deployment when Kylie was 15. "Because of Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation, I was able to graduate completely debt-free in 2018."
For the Rolling Remembrance stop in Washington, D.C., veterans, children of fallen patriots and representatives for the Washington Redskins all met at FedExField to witness the passing of the flag.
“You hear ‘no soldier left behind.’ But I don’t think you really understand the significance of it until you meet the women and men who live it,” said former Washington Redskins tight end Rick “Doc” Walker.
From D.C., the flag will go on to relay points in Illinois, New Jersey and New York before finishing up May 23 at Yankee Stadium.
“The company reached out to veteran employees and asked if we’d be interested in participating in Rolling Remembrance and of course I said yes,” said Army veteran and Rolling Remembrance driver Shane Martin. “It was a huge honor. I’ve never been part of anything like this other than the military.”
