The newly unveiled Remembering Our Fallen Tennessee memorial is coming to UT for the month of November and will be part of campus’ fifth annual National Day of Remembrance and Roll Call event on Veterans Day, November 11.
“Tennessee’s Remembering Our Fallen memorial was unveiled in Nashville earlier this month and we are the second city to host this beautiful memorial, so it is very exciting for us,” said Jayetta Rogers, veterans affairs coordinator and school certifying official in the Office of the University Registrar.
The National Day of Remembrance 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 September 11, 2001.
UT’s event, which is open to the public, will begin at 10:00 a.m. and run until 2:00 p.m. in Circle Park. Faculty, staff, and student volunteers will read aloud the names of the 140-plus Tennessee veterans and some of the other service members who have died in the line of duty since September 11, 2001.
Air Force veteran Ingrid Ruffin, a student success librarian, will serve as the emcee. ReVOLution, a campus choral group, will perform. UT President Emeritus Joe Johnson, a US Army veteran, will speak at 1:45 p.m. The campus community will observe the national moment of silence at 2:00 p.m. The program will conclude with Corporal Jordan Henderson, a student veteran, playing “Taps.”
A flag memorial will be featured in Circle Park to honor the fallen Tennessee veterans. Small flags will be available at the site so those attending the event can add them in honor or in memory of other veterans.
Having the Remembering Our Fallen Tennessee memorial visit campus at the same time will make the event even more special, Rogers said.
“The National Roll Call event has become a significant annual celebration for our campus,” Rogers said. “It gives us the chance to honor the fallen soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. It is also a way of bringing our students, faculty, and staff together to show support for our servicemen and -women.”
The memorial will arrive on campus on November 3 and will remain here until November 28. The memorial, which must be set up indoors, will be inside the main floor of the Communications Building in Circle Park. It will be assembled against the windows so it can be viewed from outside.
The memorial is about fifty feet in length, eight feet in height, and twelve inches deep. It includes photos of Tennessee soldiers who died in the line of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, or other locations since September 11, 2001.
The Tennessee memorial was unveiled on October 17 at the Nashville Palace and has been displayed at various sites around the city. Its visit to Knoxville marks the beginning of a tour around the state.
Similar Remembering Our Fallen tributes have been assembled in seventeen other states.
National Day of Remembrance and Roll Call event and the memorial’s visit to campus are being organized by Veteran Student Services within the Office of the University Registrar.
UT has about 800 registered student veterans and veteran dependents enrolled.
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CONTACT:
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)