GSC to honor 'the fallen'

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville State College (GSC) has once again joined a nationwide grass-roots effort to honor American servicemen and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past decade.

On Monday, November 12, GSC faculty, staff, students and community volunteers will be among those at more than 100 colleges and universities across the nation who will read the names of the 6,600-plus casualties of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a participant in Remembrance Day National Roll Call, GSC has organized the reading of names to begin at 7:40 a.m. on the Student Center Patio facing the Quadrangle and will continue until each of the names have been read. It is estimated that it will take 40 readers approximately eight hours to read the names in chronological order. In addition to the reading of the names, there will be two Remembrance Ceremonies, the first being at noon and the second being part of the simultaneous nationwide minute of silence at 2:00. A location for reflection will be available for individuals who wish to sit quietly while the names are being read. GSC counselors will be available for individuals who need their services.

The GSC Office of Student Affairs is coordinating the events, which, in addition to the Roll Call, include a Flag Project. Flags will be available throughout the day for individuals to place on the Quadrangle to honor or memorialize a soldier or veteran. There will also be a display of military memorabilia from GSC students, faculty and staff members who are veterans or who have family members who served in the military. Additionally, members of the GSC community may submit names of any active military, veterans, or those lost in service to be recognized. These names will be read as part of the 12:00 ceremony.

Currently more than 85 schools in 36 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to participate in the event. GSC is one of eight University System of Georgia institutions participating in the Roll Call. The others scheduled to participate include Clayton State University, Darton State College, Georgia Perimeter College, Gordon State College, North Georgia College and State University, University of West Georgia and Valdosta State University.

The Remembrance Day National Roll Call is sponsored nationally by the Veterans Knowledge Community of NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. NASPA is a 12,000-member association for the advancement, health, and sustainability of student affairs professionals. The Veterans Knowledge Community (VKC) mission is to advocate for best practices to help student veterans transition to college and succeed. As the National Roll Call sponsor, the goal of VKC is to have at least one institution in each of the 50 states participate 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. "Like the names inscribed at the new 9-11 Memorial in New York, each of the fallen deserve to be remembered for their sacrifice. There is no effort to raise money or promote individual programs. The event is simply to honor those who have sacrificed so much on our behalf."

The names of the fallen were compiled from iCasualties.org.

The public is to attend the ceremony at GSC.

For information about the Gainesville State College Roll Call events, contact Dr. Alicia Caudill, Associate VP for Student Affairs & Dean of Students at [email protected] or 678-717-3877.

For more information about the National Roll Call effort, contact Brett Morris at [email protected] or visit va.eku.edu/rollcall to see a list of participating schools.