People across America will gather at 11 a.m. to hold ceremonies commemorating the lives and service of our nation’s veterans and active military members on Monday, Nov. 11. The university will hold its own Veterans Day ceremony at this time in the Memorial Amphitheater, barring weather issues.

“UNA has developed our Veterans Day ceremony into a quality event that is shared all across our campus,” said Laura Giles, president of the Student Government Association, which will host the event. “Having the event on Nov. 11 nationwide each year helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day, which is to celebrate and honor our veterans for their patriotism and service to our country. Patriotism is not limited to veterans, and we wish to utilize this event to spread patriotism across our university.”

The ceremony will last about an hour and will feature a number of guest speakers, including Col. Buddy Brook, an alumnus who is currently the highest ranking active duty officer to graduate from the UNA ROTC program, said retired Lt. Col. Wayne Bergeron, chair of the shared governance committee that plans the event. 

President William Cale and Giles will also be speaking at the event, he said.

Although SGA is responsible for planning the event, the ceremony can be seen as a collaboration of multiple groups on campus, said SGA Senator Sarah Emerson.

“It truly is humbling to see the impact former UNA students have had in our military and remember the ones that we’ve lost,” Emerson said. “It really is an amazing experience for anyone to attend and definitely reminds us of how important our military are to our campus.”

The ROTC cadets will be doing something special for the ceremony, said Lt. Col. Michael Snyder, director of ROTC. 

“They are going to read the names of every commissionee from our program for the Veterans Day Ceremony,” he said. 

The Pride of Dixie Marching Band and the university’s choral ensemble will also participate during the ceremony, Bergeron said.

“By allowing the students to participate in this time to honor our military veterans, it brings us all closer to one another and develop a sense of community among our UNA family,” Giles said. 

The university’s Military and Veteran Alliance will create a display that will be shown in the days leading up to, and immediately following the ceremony, Bergeron said.

“In the past three years, the MVA has always tried to do something in addition to the actual ceremony,” he said. “This year they decided to create a display remembering all of the casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. It will consist of the 5,667 flags that will be out on the quad (amphitheater area) in a display and should be pretty cool.”

The memorial will remain up for several days as a reminder of the importance of the sacrifice so many have made on behalf of the American people, Bergeron said.

“Especially these days we have to keep in everybody’s mind just how important Veterans Day is,” said Calvin Lyles, president of MVA. “(UNA has) had such a strong tradition with the military going all the way back to the Civil War. It’s something that I’ve always been proud of, and I know that the people at UNA are proud of our veterans too.”