National Roll Call Remembering the Sacrifices of 10 Years at War

Quick Facts

On Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, campus and community volunteers at 182 college and universities across the nation will read the names of the 6,200-plus casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, now called Operation New Dawn.

At 10:45 a.m., participants will gather at the amphitheatre for a simultaneous nationwide minute of silence and a short ceremony.

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Laura Foster

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Following the 10th anniversary of the September 11 tragedy, Winthrop University has joined a nationwide grassroots effort to honor American service men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past decade.

On Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, campus and community volunteers at 182 college and universities across the nation will read the names of the 6,200-plus casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, now called Operation New Dawn.

At Winthrop, 38 faculty, staff and students will begin reading names at 8 a.m. at three locations: Hardin Family Garden, Scholars Walk and Byrnes Auditorium. At 10:45 a.m., participants will gather at the amphitheatre for a simultaneous nationwide minute of silence and a short ceremony.

The Veterans Day at Winthrop is sponsored by the S.C. Veterans Association of Winthrop University and Winthrop University Student Life. Students will be given Cultural Event Credit for attending the ceremony.

The Winthrop schedule is:

10:45 Move to Amphitheatre
10:50 Welcome
11:00 Moment of Silence
11:05 Honored Guard – poem
11:10 Flag ceremony – Rock Hill Police Department
11:15 National Anthem – Phi Mu Alpha Fraternity
11:18 Guest Speaker – Command Sergeant Midland
11:45 God Bless America - Phi Mu Alpha Fraternity
12:00 Taps – Ben Surber – trumpet
12:03 Reading of names of fallen N.C. and S.C. soldiers

The Remembrance Day National Roll Call is sponsored nationally by the Veterans Knowledge Community of NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, a 12,000-member association for the advancement, health, and sustainability of the student affairs professionals. Its mission is to advocate for best practices to help student veterans transition to college and succeed. At least one institution in each of the 50 states is participating in the event.

Lt. Col. (Ret) Brett Morris, the National Roll Call coordinator, said, “We wanted to rally campus communities across the nation to send a powerful message to the troops currently serving that their peers have not forgotten their sacrifices, or those of the fallen.”

“The reading of individual names is very poignant because it emphasizes the significance of each and every life lost,” said Morris, a retired Army officer and the associate director for veterans affairs at Eastern Kentucky University. “Each of the fallen deserve to be remembered for their sacrifice.”

The National Roll Call is grateful to iCasualties.org for the steadfast recording of the fallen over the past 10 years, from which the names of the fallen have been derived.

For information about the Winthrop Roll Call events, contact Laura Foster at 803/323-2520 or email her at fosterl@winthrop.edu.

For more information about the National Roll Call effort, contact Brett Morris at remembrancerollcall@gmail.com or visit www.va.eku.edu/rollcall to see a list of participating schools.

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