KU News Release

ROTC units plan 24-hour vigils Nov. 9-10 as part of campus Veterans Day activities

LAWRENCE — Reserve Officer Training Corps units for the Air Force, Army and Navy/Marines will participate in several on-campus Veterans Day observances Nov. 9-10 at the University of Kansas Lawrence campus. All are open to the public.

All units will host a formal flag retreat at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, at the Strong Hall flagpole, then move across Jayhawk Boulevard for an assembly and reception in Room 130 in Budig Hall. Bernie Kish, director of facilities and lecturer in sports management in the KU Department of Health, Sport and Exercise Sciences, will speak. He is a retired colonel who served 29 years in the U.S. Army. The Air Force Arnold Air Society is the retreat host.

Beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, all ROTC cadets and midshipmen will conduct their annual traditional 24-hour vigil at the Vietnam and Korean memorials on Memorial Drive through 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10. Students from each branch will take one-hour shifts standing guard outside each memorial. A lamp-lighting ceremony will precede the vigil.

For additional information about KU's Memorial Drive, go to the Campus Buildings Directory at http://www.buildings.ku.edu/, then using the A-Z index, click on “M” and scroll to both Memorial Drive. For Korean War Memorial information and photos, go to “K” and for Vietnam War Memorial, go to “V.” Also under the “M” is background information on the Memorial Carillon and Campanile that honors veterans from World War II. Although not memorials exclusively, the Kansas Union and Memorial Stadium are multiuse structures that commemorate World War I veterans with ties to KU.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.