A Summit Hill man represented a local veterans organization at a memorial run for fallen service members over the Memorial Day weekend.

Sgt. 1st Class Craig Strohl, the commander of Nesquehoning VFW Post 8008 and a U.S. Army Green Beret, participated in the Project 33 fourth annual Memorial Day Body Armor Run in Buffalo, New York. The run is to raise awareness for Special Operations members who were killed in action since Sept. 11, 2001.

The Nesquehoning VFW donated $1,500 to the Project 33 Memorial Foundation and Strohl was able to spend the weekend with the Gold Star family for Sgt. Timothy Conneway, who was killed on June 28, 2003, while serving in Iraq.

“The VFW not only supports the local area, but we support veterans organizations countrywide,” he said.

Strohl, who served five tours in Iraq, said this is the second year that he has participated in the run and is happy to support the foundation.

Project 33 is also Strohl’s former Special Forces team.

This year was also special since Conneway’s son, Tim, carried the American flag during the run, he said.

Conneway’s wife, Catherine, was pregnant with Tim when her husband was killed in battle.