At the age of 90, Ernie Andrus decided to run across the United States. He’d been running all his life, and it was time to make the ultimate trip, coast to coast.
Ernest Andrus was born in August of 1923 in Wolf River Township, Kansas and spent his early years living, growing, and running on a farm with his parents and two brothers. His first steps weren’t steps at all, but the beginning of a sprint that would carry him through life, from Kansas to California, far overseas, and back to the United States.
He lived through the Great Depression and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he lived and worked on a LST (Landing Ship Tank), the very same type of ship he would later uncover in Greece, restore, and bring home. It was only after he retired in 1984 that he starting thinking of running as a serious endeavor.
That’s why, when his beloved LST needed funding, he decided that running across the country was the perfect way to raise money. By the time he finished, he was 93 years old.
