NCG will mark this Veterans Day — 11-11-11, the tenth anniversary of post-9/11 combat — with a remembrance ceremony and roll call of the 6,300-plus men and women who have lost their lives in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The ceremony begins at 6 a.m. on the Elliott University Center West Lawn. Roll call begins at 6:05 a.m. and runs through 2 p.m.
UNCG’s roll call is part of the Remembrance Day National Roll Call Event, a synchronized reading of all the names of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom casualties with participating schools from all 50 states. As of Sept. 15, 6,254 U.S. service members had died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the numbers have continued to mount. A moment of silence will be observed across the country at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) to honor them.
“Sometimes we continue on with life, and the sacrifice made by these men and women gets put in the shadows,” says Joshua Green, a former military policeman who now works in the Dean of Students’ Office. “This is an opportunity for us to remember the sacrifice made by so many loved ones for us to have our freedom.”
The schedule is as follows:
6 a.m. – Presentation of Colors by NC A&T ROTC
6:05 a.m. – Roll Call Begins (continues through 2 p.m.)
2 p.m. – National Minute of Silence
2:01 p.m. – Taps, United States Army Bugler
2:02 p.m. – Remembrance Day Speakers: Welcome – Chancellor Linda P. Brady; Flag Presentation – Joshua Green; Military Families – SFC Joseph Serna, Jr., Green Beret Foundation and UNCG Parent; Continuing to Serve: Veterans in College – Harry Rybacki, president, Student Veterans Association.
3 p.m. – Retiring of the Colors
The Office of Campus Activities and Programs, the Student Veterans Association, the Office of Student Affairs, the University Registrar’s Office, and the Chancellor’s Office are all involved in coordinating the ceremony.
Also view a display of flags representing the soldiers who lost their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom on Kaplan Commons, Elliott University Center West Lawn. The Kappa Delta Rho Fraternity, the Student Veterans Association and the Office of Campus Activities and Programs are organizing the display.