The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will celebrate Veterans Day on Monday, Nov. 11, with its third annual National Day of Remembrance and Roll Call.

 

The university will also create a “flag garden” on the south lawn of Ayres Hall as a visual acknowledgment of veterans, who are serving or have served, and UT Libraries will set up an exhibit of World War I and Civil War memorabilia.

 

The events are being organized by the campus Task Force in Support of Student Veterans in collaboration with UT Libraries, the Student Veteran Advisory Group, Office of Veterans Affairs, the Center for the Study of War and Society and CAPS Veteran Pre-College Program.

 

There are currently 908 registered student veterans and veteran dependents on the UT campus.

 

“Participating in the National Roll Call is an opportunity for the campus community to publically express our appreciation for service men and women who have made the greatest sacrifice for our country. The Task Force is honored to work with veteran students, faculty and staff throughout the year. Our student veterans bring a unique leadership and life experience which benefits us all,” said Ashley Blamey, director of the Safety, Environment and Education (SEE) Center and the chair of the Task Force in Support of Student Veterans.

 

The National Remembrance Day Roll Call began in 2011 to annually honor and recognize the sacrifice of veterans through a simultaneous reading of the names of those who died in military operations since Sept. 11, 2001. This year, 6,769 names will be read.

 

UT is one of 85 schools in 33 states participating in the Roll Call. For more information about the national event, see http://va.eku.edu/rollcall/pledgelist.

 

UT’s Roll Call will begin at 7 a.m. and run until 5 p.m. on the south lawn of Ayres Hall. At 1:45 p.m., Dean of Students Maxine Davis and Associate Vice Chancellor Ken Stoner will read a portion of the names and then the National Anthem will be performed by members of the UT School of Music Ensemble. Ayres Hall chimes will play “Taps,” and the campus community will observe the national moment of silence at 2 p.m.

 

In addition, members of the UT campus community have been invited to place a flag on the south lawn of Ayres in honor or in memoriam of a veteran. Flags can be reserved free of charge at https://tiny.utk.edu/gRC3f. Those reserving flags can place the flag themselves or have the task force do it. Extra flags will be available the day of the event.

 

UT Libraries’ exhibit of World War I and Civil War-era letters, diaries, portraits and other ephemera will be set up in its Special Collections room, 121 Hodges Library.

 

The Civil War portion of the exhibit also commemorates the Nov. 28, 2013, sesquicentennial of the Battle of Fort Sanders, a Civil War engagement that took place less than a quarter mile from the current John C. Hodges Library. Civil War items in the display will include a Union veteran’s badge cast from bronze taken from Confederate cannons and the signed carte de visite of General Ambrose Burnside, leader of the defending Union troops at the Battle of Fort Sanders.

 

For more information on UT’s Special Collections, visit http://lib.utk.edu/special.