FORT CARSON, Colo. – Dan and Michelle Benavidez plan to walk 1,000 miles starting from Manhart Field on Fort Carson and finishing at the Middle East Conflicts Memorial Wall in Marseilles, Ill., where their son’s name is permanently etched in stone.The parents of Staff Sgt. Kenneth Mayne, a 4th Infantry Division soldier who was killed in 2008 during a deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, are marching to raise awareness of challenges facing military soldiers and their families.“It was my husband’s idea to visit the wall and see our son’s name memorialized there,” said Michelle Benavidez. “But instead of just flying out to see it, he wanted to honor his son’s life by walking there and raising support and awareness along the way for the service and sacrifice of America’s fallen warriors and their Families.”The “Iron Knights” Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Inf. Div., will accompany the Benavidez family following a ceremony at Manhart Field April 13 at 1 p.m.Joined by 4th Inf. Div. and Fort Carson leaders, the soldiers will march beside Dan and Michelle Benavidez for the ceremonial first mile of their 1,000-mile march, passing the Fallen Soldiers Memorial near Gate 1, a tribute in the post’s memorial grove.Read More…

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Staff Sgt. Kenneth Mayne, armor crew member, Company B, 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was killed, Sept. 4, 2008, when an improvised explosive device struck his security patrol in Eastern Baghdad. Soldiers, Family and friends will join Mayne’s parents, Dan and Michelle Benavidez, to honor the fallen soldier’s memory, as they begin a 1,000-mile walk beginning at Fort Carson’s Manhart Field, April 13 at 1 p.m., and concluding at a rally at the Middle East Conflicts Memorial Wall in Marseilles, Ill. Photo by