The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma Memorial Day weekend celebration honors one deceased veteran in what has become a time-honored observance by veterans across Kitsap County since 2011.  

The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma Celebration of Life Ceremony, held every Memorial Day weekend, is hosted by the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners, Kitsap County Medical Examiner, Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board and Combat Veterans International, with support from the City of Port Orchard.

Veterans will gather at the County Administration Building plaza, 619 Division Street, Port Orchard, for a brief ceremony that begins promptly at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 24 to honor the lives and service of their fallen comrades.

The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma honors one deceased veteran who passed away in Kitsap County in the last year, whose remains were unclaimed by family or friends. The remains of the veteran will be received from the Kitsap County Medical Examiner and escorted to Tahoma National Cemetery near Kent in a formal processional that includes local veteran motorcycle clubs. The public is invited to attend the ceremony and participate in the processional.

The ceremony at the Administration Building is expected to attract hundreds of people this year. Organizers ask for the public’s patience and understanding as the motorcycle processional departs Division Street and makes its way down Sydney Avenue to Tremont Street on its way to Highway 16 at about 11 a.m.  For those who wish to travel to the cemetery, instructions will be provided at the Administration Building before departure.

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Origins of The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma

Each year, the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners, Kitsap County Coroner's Office, Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board and Combat Veterans International host The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma Celebration of Life Ceremony on Memorial Day weekend. Please visit this page for updates on the ceremony this year.

In 2008, Mike Carroll, a founding member of the Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board, read an article about the abandoned remains of deceased veterans at a funeral home in Missouri.  Carroll contacted veterans advisory board staff to see if the Kitsap County Coroner's Office had any unclaimed remains.  The coroner had six unclaimed veteran remains.

The weather was cold and rainy on October 2, 2008 when a small group of representatives from the Veterans Advisory Board, Combat Veterans International, and Kitsap communities received the remains of the six unclaimed veterans in the care of the county coroner and escorted them to Tahoma National Cemetery for the first Run to Tahoma.

The next event occurred on Saturday, Memorial Day Weekend in 2011, and became known as The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma II.  At their June 2011 meeting, the Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board passed a motion that the ceremony would only occur when there was at least one unclaimed veteran in the care of the county coroner. 

Recording of the 2015 Run to Tahoma:

2015 Documentary