DALLAS — As the events of Memorial Day weekend faded into night, there was one more march to take.
Marine veteran Jacob Schick with One Tribe Foundation gathered a crowd in an uptown parking lot — a crowd missing one very important soul.
"This year is the first time in five years I have done this without my brother Michael Carnell," Schick said to the dozens gathered late Sunday night. "And so for me, of course it's heavy. But I feel his spirit, and that lifts my spirit."
For Schick, Michael Carnell was a best friend and a fellow Marine veteran whose fight with cancer ended just three months ago. Tonight, some of his friends would be walking for him.
"Start together, finish together, one tribe, one fight. Let's do it," said Schick.
Their walk, a mile on the Katy Trail in Dallas, began at midnight, the very first minute of Memorial Day. The walk, by design, is completely silent, no words spoken. They can only hear the sounds of the city, the sound of their own footsteps, and the clinking of dog tags they carry for the souls they have lost.
"I think it just gives us a chance to hear them talk to us," Schick said. "No distraction."
Terry and Beth Burgess, hear their son Bryan, who was killed in Afghanistan 13 years ago. Terry Burgess walked with a light to illuminate an American flag he carries, along with his son's shoes. He carries those on top of a backpack with his memory too.
"And nothing could be more meaningful," said David Vobora of Adaptive Training Foundation. "For us, the ability to be together is the healing. And to do it in a way where we all commit to that silence, there's just nothing more powerful."
"For me, the more my feet hurt at the end of this 22-mile extravaganza, the better I feel at the end of it," said Jeremiah Hurley of Irreverent Warriors, speaking of the total miles he and other fellow veterans endure Memorial Day weekend. Irreverent Warriors, like the One Tribe Foundation, works to solve the devastating statistic — an estimated 22 military veterans taking their own lives each day.
"People's healing journeys are different. And everybody does it differently, right? But we feel like they deserve an hour, an hour of solace silence," Schick said.
Schick carries his own obvious pain, his own scars from battle. The leader of One Tribe Foundation overcame what he still refers to as "a bad day at the office." A triple-stacked tank mine detonated under his vehicle in Iraq in 2004. The explosion severed one lower leg and severely damaged the other. But this silent walk is about using that pain to manage the silent scars they carry too.
"Because it's important that people understand — if you don't exorcise your demons, they're gonna exorcise you," Schick said.