9-year-old walking 100 miles in 30 days to honor great-grandfather
”I want people to know how special he was.”
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - There is a story in the Murrer family that has been passed down through generations: the story of the thousand miles.
“I feel like I have known that story my whole life,” said Renee Murrer.
“He helped a lot of people escape,” said 9-year-old Evan Murrer.
The story of 1,000 miles is William Dewey Freeman’s.
”I was a POW during the Korean War, I spent 930 days in a North Korean prison camp,” said PFC William Freeman in a video from May 2017, given to us by his family.
”I walked three months, almost over 1,000 miles before we got to a prison camp,” said Freeman.
He shared the story with Renee, who shared the story with her two boys. When William passed away in May of 2022, his 9-year-old great-grandson, wanted to keep the story moving forward.
”I usually take my grandaddy’s photo when I walk,” said Evan.
1,000 miles might not have been possible, but 100 miles over 30 days?
That worked for the family.
They wanted to raise money while they walked and donate to Rolling Thunder, an organization that was there for William while he was alive.
“It feels good for my heart because it feels like I am doing a lot of things for those people out there, those veterans,” said Evan.
Evan’s goal was to raise $1,000, but he has already raised over $2,000.
Evan’s goal is to walk 100 miles by Veteran’s Day and he has already walked 74 miles.
”I want people to know how special he was,” said Evan.
Some of Evan’s friends got on board, wanting to help raise money.
“It means a lot to me to see his heart so big and so giving and really just wanting to help other people, in honor of someone that we loved,” said Renee.
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