First in a series
Dateline Torrance – Just in time for the Fourth of July.
At 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, 28 years old, all-American Mike Viti is constructed as solidly as the Empire State Building, as strikingly as the first sighting of the Statue of Liberty.
Suffused with a streak of latter-day, old-fashioned red, white and blue patriotism, his kind is as rare as Presidents named Lincoln.
The storybook son, he is a once-in-a-generation type.
A square-shouldered former athlete, native of the Philadelphia area, graduate of West Point, veteran of five years in the U.S. Army, he is the kind of throwback American personality, the powdered wig kind you last read about in your student days, the young man history books rave about.
As modest as a grandmother on her death bed, he is as quiet as an unpopular new bride at her first meal with disapproving in-laws.
[img]2643|right|Mike and Laura Viti||no_popup[/img]When Mr. Viti strolled into the Torrance home of Mario and Linda Ferrara last weekend, spouses and parents who have lost loved ones in war, were there to greet him.
From him, though, you never would have known he has undertaken a remarkable journey to honor the cherished memories of lost ones.
Having resigned his position with a Fortune 500 company last winter, Mr. Viti is spending this year honoring America in a most unique manner.
Since April 26, he has been hiking on a closely calculated path across America, one kilometer at a time for each of the 7100 military personnel who have been killed in the global war on terror (mikeshikingforheroes.com and Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Mikeshikingforheroes/timeline).
What is so extraordinary about Mr. Viti is not only his journey, but the clear-eyed, unblinking reason for it.
(To be continued)
