This Veteran’s Day, a seemingly endless amount of names will be read for approximately eight hours as a part of the University’s service to honor U.S. veterans.
This service will occur from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm on November 11 at the Rebecca Strafford Student Center.
A moment of silence will be held at 2:00 pm as sign of remembrance.
The University has joined a nationwide effort to honor service men and women who gave their lives while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq during the past 10 years.
At the moment, 157 other colleges and universities from across the nation will read the names of the more than 6,000 casualties of war who have perished during operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
“We wanted to rally campus communities across the nation to send a powerful message to the troops currently serving that their peers have not forgotten their sacrifices, or those of the fallen,” said Lt. Col. Brett Morris, the National Roll Call Coordinator.
“We will be reading the names of every military member who lost their lives in support of operations overseas since 9/11/01. They come from all over the United States,” said Jeffrey Hood, the Veterans Service Coordinator at the University. “This is the first year we will be doing the roll call. I expect it to be something we do every year because it is important to remember those who gave their lives.”
The reading of all the names is expected to take close to eight hours to complete. The names will be read in chronological order.
In addition to the reading of the names, the Monmouth Veterans Association also will take part in its second march in New York City’s Veterans’ Day Parade.
“The reading will last most of the day. As students go from class to class and they walk by the student center hearing names from 9:30 am and on throughout the afternoon, hopefully it will sink in … the number of men and women who paid the ultimate price,” Hood said.
On November 12, which also is Military Appreciation Day, fellow veterans will be honored at the University’s home football game against Albany.
