Six months ago Gene Roberts left Camp Pendleton in California headed back to his home in Baltimore, Maryland. He chose to begin his cross-country run there because that's where he was when he got deployed to Vietnam to fight in a war that took both of his legs.

"I love running. I was a runner in high school, before I lost my legs. Since I became a Christian, I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior -- I'm running for Him. The main reason for running is -- every time I put on my legs to run -- is to be a witness for the one who is the only answer to life and death, the Lord Jesus Christ," said Roberts.

His journey, which has already covered more than 1,900 miles, will also take him to Parris Island, South Carolina, where he went to Marine boot camp. This isn't the first big challenge that Roberts has undertaken since losing his legs. He has tried to swim the English Channel on three separate occasions. The final attempt came in 1995. It was while training for that swim that he saw his inspiration to start running again.

"One day I was sitting there watching tv and it was a basketball game and they were showing a commercial and somebody was running and as they went up, it was two artificial legs. I said "WOW!" It was a lady running with two artificial legs and I said 'man, I can do that," said Roberts.

So, in August of 1999, he and his wife Alicia went to a nearby track to begin the training.

"My wife said 'walk now, walk.' I ran around that track and I tell you it was the hardest thing I have done in my athletic career, running one time around on those artificial legs. I did a quarter of a mile and the rest is history. I've been running now for a little over eight years on prosthetics and it really has been a challenge. There's nothing easy about running on those," said Roberts.

He says despite the challenges he faces, he is glad he is making this run, which is raising money for several different organizations.