Ernie Andrus, a 93-year-old World War II veteran, will be holding a friendly run 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning, starting at the corner of Bering and Kobuk Streets in Soldotna.
Andrus recently made national news when he completed a 3,000-mile journey that took him from one end of the country to the other. The “Coast2Coast Run” fundraiser spanned nearly three years — Andrus began his run Oct. 7, 2013, and finished it off Aug. 16 this year — and took him from San Diego, California, to Brunswick, Georgia. Andrus ran three days a week, averaging between 13 to 26 miles a week.
Andrus was raising money and awareness for the LST 325 Ship Memorial, Inc. The LST, or landing ship tank, was a Naval ship that was used during the Second World War, and his time running across the country for Coast2Coast was in efforts to help restore one the ships that he served on, which is now docked in Evansville, Indiana. The ship was returned from the island of Crete in Greece 16 years ago, which the History Channel covered in an extensive documentary.
