By Kayla Farr | Reporter
Every year on Nov. 11, Americans take time to honor veterans for their service. What some might not know is that Baylor takes part in this tradition too. Baylor will hold a Veterans Day Ceremony from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Friday in the Barfield Drawing Room, located in the Bill Daniels Student Center, to honor those who have served.
Kevin Davis, the veteran educational and transition services director, said this event has been around for a few years.
“It is hosted by our Veterans of Baylor student organization,” Davis said. “I am helping support them. They are going to have a couple different events. We will have the color guard come out with the Air Force ROTC. A retired U.S. Marine colonel will be there speaking about open enlistment. There will be a moment of silence showing Baylor support for the men and women who fight for our freedoms.”
Matthew Simpson, an assistant professor for military science, said the Army ROTC will be involved as well.
“There has been a tradition for Veterans Day that the ROTC programs get together and hold a flag vigil,” Simpson said. “It will start at midnight on Thursday and run for 24 hours. Two air force and two army ROTC members will stand at attention at the Patt Neff building just to commemorate those who served.”
Simpson looks forward to the event and said he is proud of his cadets.
“I am a product of the ROTC, and I am very proud that they showed the respect to those deployed by doing something like this,” Simpson said.
Davis said this program is a great way to honor student veterans on campus and veterans in the community.
“When I graduated in 2012, we didn’t have anything like this,” Davis said. “The fact that now we have these events for honoring our veterans and we have this support for veterans in transition and understanding the unique challenges and obstacles is really encouraging to me. That Baylor has taken on this mission in such a profound way – it shows the character of Baylor University.”
Davis said he hopes to see lots of students and faculty at the event.
“Its so important that we show support for our veterans,” Davis said. “When we are at a university that has a mission statement of worldwide leadership and service and our student veterans have already engaged in that calling to a degree of military service; I think paying recognition to that fact is important.”
