The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets’ Veterans Day remembrance ceremony on Nov. 11 will honor the service of our nation’s soldiers.

The ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the War Memorial Chapel at 601 Drillfield Drive. Professor of military science Col. Kevin Milton, who oversees Virginia Tech’s Army ROTC program, will speak. 

At 11 a.m., Virginia Tech President Tim Sands and Laura Sands will join Milton and Maj. Gen. Randal Fullhart, commandant of cadets, to place the memorial wreath in front of the cenotaph on War Memorial Court. The Gregory Guard, the corps’ precision rifle drill team, will fire a rifle salute. The color guard will present the colors, and a bugler will play “Taps.”

Eleven o’clock is symbolic on Veteran's Day. The day, formerly known as Armistice Day, celebrates the signing of the Armistice at the end of World War I. The Armistice took effect at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month in the year 1918.  

Beginning at 2 p.m. at the Pylons, volunteers from the student organization Veterans @ VT will take turns reading the names of those killed while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn. The reading will start with an opening speech and a moment of silence.

It is expected to take more than five hours to read the names of the more than 6,800 men and women who lost their lives in the conflicts. The community is welcome to volunteer to help read the names.

At 4:45 p.m., the corps will hold a formal retreat ceremony at the flagpole behind Lane Hall at 280 Alumni Mall. The Color Guard will lower the flag; Skipper, the Corps of Cadets cannon, will fire; and the Highty-Tighties, the regimental band, will play.

Two vigil services also will honor veterans.

The Robert Femoyer Service Squadron will hold a 24-hour vigil at the Rock — a memorial to Virginia Tech alumni lost in World War I — by the Upper Quad flagpole starting at midnight Nov. 11. Two cadets will be posted as guards and will change every half-hour. Volunteers from the entire Corps of Cadets will participate.

The Corps of Cadets’ Echo Company will hold a 48-hour vigil from midnight Nov. 10 to midnight Nov. 12 at War Memorial Court. Two cadets will be posted as guards at the cenotaph and will change every hour. Cadets and many alumni from Echo Company will participate.

At 10 a.m. Nov. 13, cadets will host the Veterans 5K run on the Virginia Tech cross country course. Funds raised will go to The Mission Continues, Eric Greitens’ nonprofit agency. His book, “The Heart and the Fist,” is Virginia Tech’s 2016-17 Common Book.

The Mission Continues challenges veterans to find new missions after leaving the military by focusing their talents and energy to tackle challenges facing us at home.

Register for the Veterans 5K run online.

Free parking is available in Perry Street Lots and the Perry Street Parking Garage near Prices Fork Road with a visitor’s pass, available from the Visitor Center at 925 Prices Fork Road, next to the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center.

Find more parking information online.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Nicole Ward at 540-231-6413 or email corpsofcadets@vt.edu during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to the event.

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