Summit for Heroes, which is an organized climb of the highest mountains in each of the United States, is done every year during the last weekend of June.
Each summit reached is done in the memory of the life, the commitment and the sacrifice of police officers, firefighters and first responders killed in the line of duty protecting the communities they served.
The hike, which was organized by military representatives, was done in an effort to show support towards the local community, according to Summit for Heroes local coordinator Navy Cmdr. Phillip Cyr.
Though the event has been happening for the last 10 years in the U.S., it was only a couple of months ago that Cyr became instrumental in organizing the first one for Guam.
“My nephew is a police officer and he does many climbs. He said nobody has done it on Guam and asked if there would be interest in setting something up,” said Cyr. “I made a couple of phone calls with police department, security, Marines … next thing you know, everyone wanted to help in support of our fallen comrades.”
Fabulous
To his surprise, the turnout was “fabulous.”
With the help of several volunteers, such as Dee San Nicolas, who also coordinates the Peace Officers’ Memorial Day, San Nicolas helped by getting the word out by email, telephone and word of mouth.
“In fact we were only expecting like maybe 50 people but we had 50 more — a hundred-some! It was a good turnout,” she said.
Since the turnout was quite successful, the event will continue on every year in the same location, with “the hope that it gets bigger and bigger,” said Lt. Col. Aisha Bakkar, public affairs officer for the Marine Forces Pacific Guam & CNMI.
“I think there’s a really close affinity between military services and the Guam Police, Fire Department or anyone who’s a first responder, because so many Marines go on to be policemen themselves or law enforcement themselves. … They have people of a dangerous job and they truly are unselfish. There is definitely a connection there,” said Bakkar. “We want there to be a good bond between the military and first responders.”
