Contact: Georgia Clarke
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State’s 2015 observance of national Veterans Day will take place all day Wednesday [Nov. 11].
Honoring the service of current and former military personnel, the public program is organized by the university’s G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Center for America’s Veterans and other campus organizations.
Activities begin at 8:30 a.m. on the historic Drill Field. Names of the nearly 7,000 military personnel that have died during the current War on Terror will be read continuously throughout the day.
At 2 p.m., the reading pauses for a formal ceremony featuring remarks by MSU President Mark E. Keenum and Regina Hyatt, vice president of student affairs. Also taking part will be representatives of the land-grant institution’s Army and Air Force ROTC programs.
A joint ROTC color guard will present the colors.
To conclude the day’s events, the MSU Student Veterans Association is sponsoring 5-K and one-mile runs to benefit both a state veterans’ charity and its own ongoing mission. The run begins at 6:30 p.m. near Colvard Student Union.
The check-in table opens on the Drill Field at 5:30 p.m., at which time participants may pay the $20 registration fee and receive a T-shirt. Advanced registration may be completed at racesonline.com/events/mississippi-state-veterans-day-5k.
This Saturday [Nov. 14], veterans also will be honored during the MSU v. Alabama football game with a military-themed halftime show. The Famous Maroon Band performance will honor each military branch. Other military appreciation elements include, among others, a flyover of T-30s from Columbus Air Force Base and recognition of the top-ranking commanding officers of CAFB, a video by soldiers from Kuwait, the national anthem led by a military trio, presentation of the Purple Heart University designation, and special recognition of Bradley Freeman, one of the only living World War II “Band of Brothers” soldiers.
For complete details visit www.hailstate.com.
Established in 1878 and organized originally along the lines of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, MSU today is nationally rated among the country’s most veteran-friendly institutions of higher learning.
For more on the Montgomery Center for America’s Veterans, visit www.veterans.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.