Veterans walk across Lincoln for 25th year in a row to honor service members

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A group of Veterans participated in the 25th annual Veterans Walk of Recognition on Saturday, in honor of Veterans Day.

The walk goes from Memorial Stadium all the way to the Veterans Memorial Garden in Antelope Park.

Gailen Young, who served from 1963 to 1966, has helped lead the walk every year.

“We’re just trying to put the veterans back in Veterans Day and let people see who the veterans are,” he said.

Young said he appreciates all the support people show as they trek across town.

Diane Bartels, a member of the event committee at the memorial garden, said it’s “incredible” they’ve been doing the walk for so long.

Before Saturday’s walk, she was asked whether it would still be happening because of the Nebraska game.

“I knew what Gailen would say; he’d say ‘there are some things more important than the football game,'” she said. “Those guys are troopers and I love all of them.”

Young said anyone is welcome to join in the walk every year, to help unite veterans in the Lincoln area.

He said he’s met a lot of people during both his time serving in the military and in the years after.

“You make a lot of friends who are friends forever,” he said. “It’s a brotherhood.”