Texas A&M To Honor American Service Men And Women On Veterans Day
The lives and sacrifices of American service men and women are being honored nationally today, and Texas A&M University is also paying tribute to the nation’s armed forces with multiple on-campus Veterans Day ceremonies scheduled throughout the day.
The university has joined a nationwide grassroots effort to honor veterans by participating in Remembrance Day National Roll Call, an event sponsored by the Veterans Knowledge Community of NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA). Along with more than 100 other colleges and universities across the nation, Texas A&M is reading the names of the 6,200-plus casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, now known as Operation New Dawn.
At 8 a.m. on Military Walk behind Rudder Tower, readers began announcing the names in chronological order — a feat that will take nearly eight hours to complete.
All veterans on campus, including students, faculty and staff, are also invited to an appreciation breakfast — hosted by the Veteran Services Office — at the vice president of student affairs’ house from 9-11 a.m.
The Corps of Cadets will participate in three on-campus remembrance ceremonies. At 11 a.m. — the same time of day the Armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918 — the corps’ first ceremony will take place at the World War I Monument near the West Gate. It will include wreath-laying, Taps — to be played by a bugler from the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band — and a 3-volley salute by the Ross Volunteers. A second ceremony will be held at the Corps Plaza Memorial at noon and will also include a wreath-laying and taps. A third short ceremony will immediately follow at the Spanish-American War Memorial. It will include a wreath-laying.
At 1 p.m. on Military Walk behind Rudder Tower, the Division of Student Affairs and the Veterans Service Office will coordinate the university’s participation in the National Moment of Silence.
The West Gate Memorial, located at the northwest corner of Simpson Drill Field, was dedicated by the Classes of ’23, ’24, ’25 & ’26 in recognition of the participation by the then Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas in World War I and of the heroic sacrifices made by 55 Texas A&M cadets who lost their lives.
The Corps Plaza Memorial is located at the entrance of the corps dorms on the south side of campus. The memorial commemorates those Aggies who have given their lives while on active military duty since the end of World War II and includes 392 Aggies names.
The Spanish-American War Memorial is located at the south entrance of Sanders Corps of Cadets Center and recognizes the Aggies who served the United States in its conflict with Spain from 1898-1902.
Many of the details of these events can be found on Texas A&M’s Facebook event, where those hoping to participate in the events can RSVP here: http://tx.ag/veterans11.
