ROTC to honor veterans on Thursday

News Release

By JIM WALSH
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Air Force, Army and Navy ROTC units will hold their annual Veterans Day ceremony Thursday (Nov. 11) on Polk Place, the quad between Wilson Library and South Building.

The 2:30 p.m. ceremony and the reception afterward are open to the public.

About 150 officer candidates will assemble in dress uniforms. Veterans of foreign wars dating to World War II are expected to be in attendance.

Retired Col. Sam Holiday, a veteran of the Korean War and the Vietnam War, will be the guest speaker.

The three ROTC units take turns organizing the annual event; this year, the Army ROTC is coordinating the ceremony. UNC’s Residence Hall Association is helping sponsor the event.

The reception that follows will be held at the Armory Building, located on campus at the corner of South Columbia Street and South Road. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union.

Carolina Troop Supporters, a student-led nonprofit organization founded at UNC in March, is sponsoring the reception.

On Saturday (Nov. 13), Carolina Troop Supporters and the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund will sponsor the "Yellow Ribbon 5K" to benefit the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund.

Registration is $15 and begins at 10 a.m. at the race location, the South Road sidewalk in front of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. The race begins at 11 a.m. Early registration and pledge forms are available at www.carolinatroopsupporters.org.

Radio personalities Dave Kent and Madison Lane from the WRSN-FM (93.9) morning show will kick off the race. Food, games, live music and other activities will take place near the steps of South Building after the race concludes. A flag ceremony will be held at 12:30 p.m.

Performers will include Elizabeth Claire Carty, Miss Teen North Carolina; Jeff Wade Clark, a veteran from Nashville, Tenn.; UNC’s Clef Hangers; Lauren Jones of the student a capella group Psalm 100; the Star Heels dance team; and the Brooks Wood Band.

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UNC Army ROTC contact: Lt. Col. John Zornick, (919) 962-5546

Carolina Troop Supporters contact: Ashley Weekes, president, (919) 929-0522

News Services contacts: Print, Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415; broadcast, Karen Moon, (919) 962-9585