UWG to Participate in National Roll

Call on Veteran's Day

On Friday, Nov. 11, UWG will participate in Remembrance Day National Roll Call, a nationwide effort to honor the American troops who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past decade.

More than 6,300 servicemen and women have died in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, now called Operation New Dawn.

So far, about two dozen volunteers have signed up to read the names, said Angela D. Wheelus, of the Student Development Center, who is helping to coordinate the event. The ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. at the fountain in front of the UCC. The names will be read in chronological order. It will take about six hours to complete. A table will be set up for students, faculty, and staff to write letters of encouragement from UWG to military personnel currently serving. At 2 p.m. – or 11 a.m. Pacific Time -- there will be a nationwide moment of silence, said Corey Rumann, assistant professor in the Department of Collaborative Support and Intervention and director of the College Student Affairs program.

“It’s a great way to honor our veterans and those who have died. It’s a way to recognize their sacrifice.” Rumann said. “It’s important. Too often we forget to thank them for their service and let them know they are supported and welcome on college campuses.”

In 1918, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marked the temporary cessation of hostilities between the Allied nations and Germany.

The Veterans Knowledge Community of NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education is sponsoring the national roll call. So far, 163 schools, representing every state in the U.S. and the District of Columbia have signed up to participate, according to organizers.

“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 retired Army Lt. Col. Brett Morris, the National Roll Call coordinator, in a press release.

“The reading of individual names is very poignant because it emphasizes the significance of each and every life lost,” said Morris, the associate director for veterans affairs at Eastern Kentucky University.

“Like the names inscribed at the new 9-11 Memorial in New York, each of the fallen deserves to be remembered for their sacrifice. There is no effort to raise money or promote individual programs. The event is simply to honor those who have sacrificed so much on our behalf.”

The National Roll Call is grateful to iCasualties.org for recording the names of the fallen and their home states, over the past ten years.

For information about the UWG’s Roll Call or to read names contact Ronald Alexander at ralexad@westga.edu or Angie Wheelus at awheelu1@my.westga.edu.

For more information about the National Roll Call effort, contact Brett Morris at remembrancerollcall@gmail.com or visit va.eku.edu/rollcall to see a list of participating schools.

Do you have a comment or opinion about this story's topic? Send your thoughts to West Georgia Voices.