Armand Young has been shot at, robbed, and flash frozen on his walk across America. The 50-year-old San Diego native has also been chased by a bear and a tornado as he trekked from coast to coast.
But he won’t give up on his quest to collect a million signatures to remember the victims of 9/11. Everyone who signs his flags must promise to perform an act of kindness within a day.
So far, more than 600,000 people have signed during his seven year journey. Now, Young wants to collect the rest in Los Angeles so he can return to his wife and children in Charles Town, W.Va.
Photo Gallery: Armand Young
“I started my walk in Santa Monica, so now I want to end it there,” Young said from a motel in Pomona. He has been hiking through Diamond Bar on his way to the coast.
The journey has taken him away from his family for much of the past decade. But Young has made new friends in towns and villages across America.
“I know I’ve changed people’s lives as I cross the country,” Young explained. “And I’ve had the chance to meet many of the families who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks on 9/11.”
Along the way, many have opened their homes to the wanderer. Others have shared meals with this man on a mission.
“I’ve always had a place to sleep,” Young said. “Now, I just want to finish so I can go home and sleep in my own bed.”
He encouraged readers to stop for the man walking with the flags. To take a minute out their busy days to sign his flags and make the pledge to help someone else.
“I need to get back to my wife and two sons, to earn some money to pay my bills,” Young said.
He explained the trip has taken seven years because he’s had to stop occasionally to return home to restore his family and bank account. But the million goal always lurked in the background, driving Young back onto the nation’s streets.
He is often escorted by local fire and police. Young stopped at the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s East County Training Center in Walnut on Friday to get some much needed signatures. Some 49 firefighters pledged to perform a act of kindness in the next 24 hours.
In West Virginia, 400 gathered to walk and talk with Young. Giving Young a unique perspective on America.
From the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans bright with foam, Young has lived the words to “God Bless America.”
He’s seen our best and worst natures. Young has been shot at twice. He’s not sure why men in Boise, Idaho, and Trenton, N.J., took offense at the man carrying a bundle of flags. And he was robbed in Denver.
Then there was the broiling sun as he hiked across the Mojave Desert. And the freezing weather that almost froze him at 14 below zero.
“I was walking along the Royal Gorge in Utah and a bear started chasing me,” Young recalled. “And I dodged a tornado in Nebraska.”
Perhaps, the worst happened when he was bitten by a brown recluse spider in Omaha, Neb. Young had to be treated in the hospital.
Still, the intrepid hiker is determined to make his mark with a million signatures. He’ll continue his trek through the San Gabriel Valley until he reaches the shiny sea with a million signatures.
